Denver Transit Partners to built commuter lines

The Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) has selected Denver Transit Partners for the single largest contract for FasTracks, a transit program to expand rail and bus service. They will build and operate commuter rail lines to Denver International Airport (DIA), Arvada-Wheat Ridge and south Westminster.

Denver Transit Partners is expecting the rail to open by January 2016 with a budget of $2.085 billion, 11 months ahead of the RTD’s deadline and $300 million under its budget. The contract will allow the company to operate and maintain the rail service on these lines for 40 years.

The project will put 47 miles of new rail under construction, more than double the existing light-rail system and nearly 40% of the total FasTrack rail network. It will package several FasTrack projects into a single contract that consists of the East Corridor to DIA, the Gold Line to Arvada-Wheat Ridge, a short segment of the Northwest Rail corridor to south Westminster, and the commuter rail maintenance facility in north Denver.

“RTD is the first transit agency in the United States to pursue this type of comprehensive public-private partnership that includes not only the design and construction but the financing and ultimate operation and maintenance of the end product,” said RTD General Manager Phil Washington. “RTD has always been on the front lines of finding innovative methods for delivering projects. Now this project can get on with creating thousands of jobs.”