Revenue Service Begins on the University of Colorado A Line [Transportation Systems]

FasTracks, the 2004 voter-approved transit expansion plan for the Regional Transportation District (RTD) of Denver, Colorado, is building 122 mi of commuter rail and light rail and 18 mi of bus rapid transit service, adding 21,000 new parking spaces, redeveloping Denver Union Station, the Denver public-private-partnership (P3) project, and redirecting bus service to better connect the eight-county district. The plan includes a dedicated addition to the sales tax allocated to transportation. Local, federal, and P3 funds are also used to support the FasTracks projects. In P3 schemes, the facility is owned by the local government, but a private consortium of design firms, contractors, often some suppliers, and other firms contract to operate and maintain the facility. Three electrified commuter rail lines and one light rail line, parts of the FasTracks program, have opened or are scheduled to open in 2016. The RTD opened the first electrified commuter rail line in the United States west of Chicago to revenue service on Sunday, 24 April 2016 (Figure 1). The line runs from Union Station in downtown Denver to the Denver International Airport and uses overhead catenary energized at 25 kV 60 Hz for propulsion.