Updated: 2:41 p.m.
In late January, the Regional Transportation District’s top executive said she expected the maintenance work that’s slowed light rail trains on parts of the network to 10 miles per hour to finally wrap up in early March.
That didn’t happen.
“It still is very painful,” said David Draper, who regularly rides the E Line between downtown Denver and the Tech Center.
But, to be fair, CEO and General Manager Debra Johnson did make her prediction contingent on the weather cooperating to allow crews to complete the work. And Colorado being Colorado, a February snowstorm delayed a planned multi-day shutdown meant to allow workers to expedite work on the E, H and R lines. Issues with a contractor’s piece of equipment also contributed to the delay.
RTD did not make any staffers available for an interview on the progress of light rail repairs.
Instead, in an email, spokeswoman Pauline Haberman said the agency expects that as long as weather does not disrupt plans again and third-party contractors are available, “all necessary repairs and track work will be completed prior to the end of May.”
RTD instituted the slow zones last year as part of a more thorough track inspection it adopted after its state safety regulator pressed the agency on the deteriorating condition of its aging tracks. The closer inspections turned up track issues that required repairs and slowed trains since last June, which initially took operators and passengers by surprise.
Haberman said that work crews have eliminated 24 of the 29 speed restrictions that were put in place last year. They are focusing now on replacing a roughly 1,000-foot section of track near downtown Littleton, Haberman said.
The longest slow zone left is a one-mile section of southbound track on the E and H line between Yale and Southmoor stations.
“This section requires additional rail grinding and other track work before it can be fully lifted. It has been reduced over the past month,” Haberman wrote.
Draper said his northbound E Line trip is now back to normal, taking about 45 or 50 minutes.
“Credit where credit is due,” he said.
The southbound trip, however, sometimes takes nearly double that amount of time, he said. With RTD’s new estimate of May, Draper likely won’t be riding by time repairs are complete: The ongoing delays, and security issues he’s experienced, are big reasons Draper said he’s planning to retire in April.
