1.
Regional Transportation District
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It operates over a 2, 340-square-mile area, serving 2.87 million people. RTD is governed by a 15-member, publicly elected Board of Directors, Directors are elected to a four-year term and represent a specific district of about 180,000 constituents. RTD currently operates a bus and rail system that has an area of 2,337 square miles. It employed 2,734 people and reported 103 million boardings in 2016 and it had a $466.7 million operating budget for the year of 2015. Google has RTD schedules attached to its trip planner, and 3rd party mobile applications are now available for the iPhone,1969, RTD was created in the 47th session of the Colorado General Assembly to provide public transportation to five additional counties in the metropolitan area. 1969–1971, The Denver Tramway Company continues service under sponsorship of the City and County of Denver, October 1970, RTD found it needed to establish a Northern Operations Group to provide service to Boulder and Longmont. RTD also acquired the privately owned Denver-Boulder Bus Company, which ran airport buses,1971, Denver Metro Transit took over the privately owned Denver Tramway Company. Denver Metro Transit was an entity created by the City and County of Denver, suburban service only continued for those suburbs willing to contribute a subsidy. 1972, RTD created a plan for a rapid transit system in the area. This plan included 98 miles of PRT and extensive bus service throughout the areas served by RTD, later that year, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration selected RTD to develop PRT as a demonstration project. The PRT project was eventually scrapped, the tax became effective January 1,1974. July 1974, Denver Metro Transit became part of RTD, 1975–1977, RTD consolidated, expanded, and improved service frequency. Service was expanded to routes that commercial carriers previously operated, february 1978, Inflation caused RTD to implement a new fare structure. For instances, the new Colorado Blvd route was number 40,1979, Federal approval was granted for the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, originally known as Transitway. The project allowed express bus productivity to double and was intersected by RTDs first light rail line. 1980, RTD reached a number of weekday passengers. It also acquired 216 new buses,89 of which were articulated, construction began on the 16th Street Mall. Work was also completed to make RTDs service more accessible to elderly,1983, On May 1,1983, the tax was increased to 0. 6%
2.
Commuter rail
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Trains operate following a schedule, at speeds varying from 50 to 200 km/h. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used and they primarily serve lower density suburban areas, and often share right-of-way with intercity or freight trains. Some services operate only during peak hours and others uses fewer departures during off peak hours, average speeds are high, often 50 km/h or higher. These higher speeds better serve the longer distances involved, some services include express services which skip some stations in order to run faster and separate longer distance riders from short-distance ones. The general range of commuter trains distance varies between 15 and 200 km, sometimes long distances can be explained by that the train runs between two or several cities. Distances between stations may vary, but are much longer than those of urban rail systems. In city centers the train either has a station or passes through the city centre with notably fewer station stops than those of urban rail systems. Toilets are often available on trains and in stations. Their ability to coexist with freight or intercity services in the same right-of-way can drastically reduce system construction costs, however, frequently they are built with dedicated tracks within that right-of-way to prevent delays, especially where service densities have converged in the inner parts of the network. Most such trains run on the standard gauge track. Some light rail systems may run on a narrower gauge, some countries, including Finland, India, Pakistan, Russia, Brazil and Sri Lanka, as well as San Francisco in the USA and Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia, use broad gauge track. The fact that the terminology is not standardised across countries further complicates matters, most S-bahns typically behave like commuter rail with most trackage not separated from other trains, and long lines with trains running between cities and suburbs rather than within a city. The distances between stations however, are usually short, in larger systems there is usually a high frequency metro-like central corridor in the city center where all the lines converge into. Typical examples of large city S-Bahns include Munich and Frankfurt, S-Bahns do also exist in some mid-size cities like Rostock and Magdeburg but behave more like typical commuter rail with lower frequencies and very little exclusive trackage. A similar network exists in Copenhagen called the S-tog, in Hamburg and Copenhagen, other, diesel driven trains, do continue where the S-Bahn ends. Regional rail usually provides rail services between towns and cities, rather than purely linking major population hubs in the way inter-city rail does, Regional rail operates outside major cities. Unlike Inter-city, it stops at most or all stations between cities and it provides a service between smaller communities along the line, and also connections with long-distance services at interchange stations located at junctions or at larger towns along the line. Alternative names are local train or stopping train, examples include the former BRs Regional Railways, Frances TER, Germanys DB Regio and South Koreas Tonggeun services
3.
Denver
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Denver, officially the City and County of Denver, is the capital and most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Colorado. Denver is in the South Platte River Valley on the edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level, making it the highest major city in the United States. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the reference for the Mountain Time Zone. Denver is ranked as a Beta- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. With a 2015 estimated population of 682,545, Denver ranks as the 19th-most populous U. S. city, and with a 2. 8% increase in 2015, the city is also the fastest-growing major city in the United States. The 10-county Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 2,814,330 and ranked as the 19th most populous U. S. metropolitan statistical area. The 12-city Denver-Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 3,418,876, which ranks as the 16th most populous U. S. metropolitan area. Denver is the most populous city of the 18-county Front Range Urban Corridor, Denver is the most populous city within a 500-mile radius and the second-most populous city in the Mountain West after Phoenix, Arizona. In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the USA by U. S. News & World Report and this was the first historical settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and by the summer of 1859 it was abandoned in favor of Auraria, Larimer named the townsite Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Larimer hoped the name would help make it the county seat of Arapaho County but, unbeknownst to him. The location was accessible to existing trails and was across the South Platte River from the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne, the site of these first towns is now the site of Confluence Park near downtown Denver. Larimer, along with associates in the St. Charles City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, Denver City was a frontier town, with an economy based on servicing local miners with gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria, in May 1859, Denver City residents donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express in order to secure the regions first overland wagon route. Offering daily service for passengers, mail, freight, and gold, in 1863, Western Union furthered Denvers dominance of the region by choosing the city for its regional terminus. The Colorado Territory was created on February 28,1861, Arapahoe County was formed on November 1,1861, Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation in 1902. In 1867, Denver City became the territorial capital, with its newfound importance, Denver City shortened its name to Denver
4.
A Line (RTD)
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Mass transit has been under consideration for the corridor between Downtown Denver and Denver International Airport since the latter was proposed in the 1980s. The project gathered momentum in 1997 when a Major Investment Study was completed for the corridor, encouraging fixed-guideway mass transit, highway widening, in July 2007, it was decided to use electric instead of diesel propulsion over speed and air pollution concerns. RTD designated the line with the letter “A”, denoting service to the airport, the first electric multiple unit railcars were pulled along the route on April 3,2015, commencing testing and commissioning of the line. Revenue service began on April 22,2016, the A Line route follows and remains within a mile of Interstate 25, Interstate 70, and the airport access highway. Leaving Union Station the line follows the Union Pacific corridor past Coors Field to reach a station at 38th, from there the line turns east alongside 40th Avenue past the Denver Union Pacific Intermodal Yard. Just east of Josephine Street the corridor turns two blocks north then east again to stay along the Union Pacific corridor to reach the 40th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard station. After passing under Colorado Boulevard the line parallels Smith Road, with a station at Central Park Boulevard in the redevelopment area of the decommissioned Stapleton International Airport. Shortly after entering Aurora, the line reaches a station at Peoria Street, continuing east, alongside Smith Road, the line passes under Peoria Street and then Interstate 225. Just west of Airport Boulevard, the line rises on a viaduct curving north over the Union Pacific tracks, Airport Boulevard, 32nd Avenue, and Interstate 70. Having left the Union Pacific corridor, the viaduct then descends to a station at the existing Park and Ride at 40th Avenue, from there the line reenters Denver, following the east side of Peña Boulevard. North of 56th Avenue it enters a recently added Peña Boulevard station at 61st Avenue, the line continues north and east, parallel to Peña Boulevard and crossing over E-470. Turning north, the crosses over Peña Boulevard adjacent to DIA runway 7/25
5.
Side platform
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A side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. Dual side platform stations, one for direction of travel, is the basic station design used for double-track railway lines. Side platforms may result in a wider overall footprint for the station compared with a platform where a single width of platform can be shared by riders using either track. In some stations, the two platforms are connected by a footbridge running above and over the tracks. While a pair of platforms is often provided on a dual-track line. Where the station is close to a crossing the platforms may either be on the same side of the crossing road or alternatively may be staggered in one of two ways. With the near-side platforms configuration, each platform appears before the intersection, in some situations a single side platform can be served by multiple vehicles simultaneously with a scissors crossing provided to allow access mid-way along its length. Normally, the facilities of the station are located on the Up platform with the other platform accessed from a footbridge. However, in cases the stations main buildings are located on whichever side faces the town or village the station serves. Larger stations may have two platforms with several island platforms in between. Some are in a Spanish solution format, with two platforms and an island platform in between, serving two tracks
6.
Denver Union Station
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Denver Union Station is the main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver, Colorado. A station opened on the site June 1,1881, burning in 1894, the current structure was erected in two stages, with an enlarged central portion completed in 1914. In 2012, the station underwent a major renovation transforming it into the centerpiece of a new transit-oriented mixed-use development built on the sites former rail-yards. The station house re-opened in the summer of 2014 as a combination of the 112-room Crawford Hotel, several restaurants and retailers, and a train hall. Denvers first train station was constructed in 1868 to serve the new Denver Pacific Railway, by 1875, there were four different railroad stations, making passenger transfers between different railroad lines inconvenient. To remedy this issue, the Union Pacific Railroad proposed creating one central Union Station to combine the various operations, in February 1880, the owners of the four lines agreed to build a station at 17th and Wynkoop Streets. Architect A. Taylor of Kansas City was hired to develop the plans, however, a fire that started in the womens restroom in 1894 destroyed the central portion of the 1881 depot. The Kansas City architectural firm of Van Brunt & Howe was hired to design a replacement depot in the Romanesque Revival style. Both the 1881 and 1894 depots included a central clock tower with four clock faces. On July 4,1906, an arch was dedicated in front of the station in order to provide a symbolic threshold for travelers entering and leaving the city. Constructed at a cost of $22,500 with 70 tons of steel and over 2,000 light bulbs, the arch originally featured the word Welcome on both sides. However, the elevation facing 17th Street was changed to Mizpah, in 1912, the original Union Depot partnership was dissolved and replaced by the Denver Terminal Railway Company, representing the then-major operators of the station. The new partnership decided to demolish and rebuild the portion of the station to handle the increasing passenger traffic. The new central portion, designed by Denver architects Gove & Walsh, was built in the Beaux-Arts style, as a result of growing passenger service, the Mizpah Arch in front of the station was deemed a traffic hazard and was torn down in 1931. For the first time in 1958, passenger traffic at Stapleton International Airport exceeded that of Union Station and it was during this period that the orange Union Station, Travel by Train signs were placed on both sides of the building in order to advertise intercity rail travel. Amtrak eventually became the provider of rail service through the station. Until the grand renovation, the served the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days Train. The popular excursion train has since been based at a site near the Denver Coliseum, the plan was approved by the Partner Agencies in 2004 and was approved by voters in November of that year as the new FasTracks program
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