1.
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
2.
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%
3.
Denver metropolitan area
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Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U. S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas. The Denver region is part of the Front Range Urban Corridor, the continuously urbanized area extends northwest into the City and County of Broomfield, bordering Jefferson and Adams counties, and south into Douglas County, adjoining Arapahoe County. Also included in the federally defined MSA are four counties, Elbert County on the southeastern prairie and Clear Creek, Gilpin. The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Metropolitan Statistical Area comprises ten counties, in 2005 the RTD developed a twelve-year comprehensive plan, called FasTracks, to build and operate rail transit lines and expand and improve bus service throughout the region. Electricity is provided by Xcel Energy, cable television is provided by Comcast. Severity of pollution in this area has varied enormously over the years, in the late 1980s the area was frequently in violation of multiple National Ambient Air Quality Standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Regional Air Quality Council was formed in 1989 to create plans to address the problem, through a variety of measures the areas air quality was improved and in 2002 the EPA designated the area in compliance with all federal health-based air quality standards. Denver was the first major city in the United States to reach compliance with all six of these standards after previously violating five of them, since then the EPA introduced a new standard for small particulates and made the existing ozone standard stricter. In 2003 the new standard was frequently exceeded in the area and was occasionally exceeded as far away as Rocky Mountain National Park. The RAQC hopes to implement plans enabling the area to comply with the new standards by 2007. S
4.
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
5.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
6.
Standard gauge
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The standard gauge is a widely used railway track gauge. Approximately 55% of the lines in the world are this gauge, all high-speed rail lines, except those in Russia, Uzbekistan, and Finland, are standard gauge. The distance between the edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States. It is also called the UIC gauge or UIC track gauge, as railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge to be used. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a gauge of 1435 mm. In North East England, some lines in colliery areas were 4 ft 8 in. All these lines had been widened to standard gauge by 1846, parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. However, until well into the half of the 19th century, Britain. The American gauges converged as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent, notably, all the 5 ft broad gauge track in the South was converted to standard gauge over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. See Track gauge in the United States, snopes categorized this legend as false, but commented that. It is perhaps more fairly labelled as True, but for trivial, the historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles approximately 5 feet apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts. Others were 4 ft 4 in or 4 ft 7 1⁄2 in, the English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for the coal mines of County Durham. He favoured 4 ft 8 in for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham, the Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge. Stephensons Stockton and Darlington railway was primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees. The initial gauge of 4 ft 8 in was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge, George Stephenson used the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The success of this led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, authorised 1824 and opened 1825, used 4 ft 6 in, Dundee and Newtyle Railway, authorised 1829 and opened 1831, used 4 ft 6 1⁄2 in
7.
Railway electrification system
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A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure, selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas, some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation, Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network, some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own lines, switches and transformers. Power is supplied to moving trains with a continuous conductor running along the track usually takes one of two forms. The first is a line or catenary wire suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings. Locomotives or multiple units pick up power from the wire with pantographs on their roofs that press a conductive strip against it with a spring or air pressure. Examples are described later in this article, the second is a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding pickup shoe. Both overhead wire and third-rail systems usually use the rails as the return conductor. In comparison to the alternative, the diesel engine, electric railways offer substantially better energy efficiency, lower emissions. Electric locomotives are usually quieter, more powerful, and more responsive and they have no local emissions, an important advantage in tunnels and urban areas. Different regions may use different supply voltages and frequencies, complicating through service, the limited clearances available under catenaries may preclude efficient double-stack container service. Possible lethal electric current due to risk of contact with high-voltage contact wires, overhead wires are safer than third rails, but they are often considered unsightly. These are independent of the system used, so that. The permissible range of voltages allowed for the voltages is as stated in standards BS EN50163. These take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation, railways must operate at variable speeds. Until the mid 1980s this was only practical with the brush-type DC motor, since such conversion was not well developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most early electrified railways used DC and many still do, particularly rapid transit and trams
8.
Overhead line
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An overhead line or overhead wire is used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses, or trains. Overhead line is designed on the principle of one or more overhead wires situated over rail tracks, the feeder stations are usually fed from a high-voltage electrical grid. Electric trains that collect their current from overhead lines use a device such as a pantograph and it presses against the underside of the lowest overhead wire, the contact wire. Current collectors are electrically conductive and allow current to flow through to the train or tram, non-electric locomotives may pass along these tracks without affecting the overhead line, although there may be difficulties with overhead clearance. Alternative electrical power transmission schemes for trains include third rail, ground-level power supply, batteries and this article does not cover regenerative braking, where the traction motors act as generators to retard movement and return power to the overhead. To achieve good high-speed current collection, it is necessary to keep the wire geometry within defined limits. This is usually achieved by supporting the wire from a second wire known as the messenger wire or catenary. This wire approximates the path of a wire strung between two points, a catenary curve, thus the use of catenary to describe this wire or sometimes the whole system. This wire is attached to the wire at regular intervals by vertical wires known as droppers or drop wires. It is supported regularly at structures, by a pulley, link, the whole system is then subjected to a mechanical tension. As the contact wire makes contact with the pantograph, the insert on top of the pantograph is worn down. The straight wire between supports will cause the wire to cross over the whole surface of the pantograph as the train travels around the curve, causing uniform wear. On straight track, the wire is zigzagged slightly to the left. The movement of the wire across the head of the pantograph is called the sweep. The zigzagging of the line is not required for trolley poles. Depot areas tend to have only a wire and are known as simple equipment or trolley wire. When overhead line systems were first conceived, good current collection was only at low speeds. Compound equipment - uses a second wire, known as the auxiliary
9.
Volt
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The volt is the derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. One volt is defined as the difference in potential between two points of a conducting wire when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power between those points. It is also equal to the difference between two parallel, infinite planes spaced 1 meter apart that create an electric field of 1 newton per coulomb. Additionally, it is the difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of charge that passes through it. It can also be expressed as amperes times ohms, watts per ampere, or joules per coulomb, for the Josephson constant, KJ = 2e/h, the conventional value KJ-90 is used, K J-90 =0.4835979 GHz μ V. This standard is typically realized using an array of several thousand or tens of thousands of junctions. Empirically, several experiments have shown that the method is independent of device design, material, measurement setup, etc. in the water-flow analogy sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them with water-filled pipes, voltage is likened to difference in water pressure. Current is proportional to the diameter of the pipe or the amount of water flowing at that pressure. A resistor would be a reduced diameter somewhere in the piping, the relationship between voltage and current is defined by Ohms Law. Ohms Law is analogous to the Hagen–Poiseuille equation, as both are linear models relating flux and potential in their respective systems, the voltage produced by each electrochemical cell in a battery is determined by the chemistry of that cell. Cells can be combined in series for multiples of that voltage, mechanical generators can usually be constructed to any voltage in a range of feasibility. High-voltage electric power lines,110 kV and up Lightning, Varies greatly. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of metals to produce electricity was zinc. In 1861, Latimer Clark and Sir Charles Bright coined the name volt for the unit of resistance, by 1873, the British Association for the Advancement of Science had defined the volt, ohm, and farad. In 1881, the International Electrical Congress, now the International Electrotechnical Commission and they made the volt equal to 108 cgs units of voltage, the cgs system at the time being the customary system of units in science. At that time, the volt was defined as the difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. The international volt was defined in 1893 as 1/1.434 of the emf of a Clark cell and this definition was abandoned in 1908 in favor of a definition based on the international ohm and international ampere until the entire set of reproducible units was abandoned in 1948. Prior to the development of the Josephson junction voltage standard, the volt was maintained in laboratories using specially constructed batteries called standard cells
10.
Alternating current
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Alternating current, is an electric current which periodically reverses direction, whereas direct current flows only in one direction. A common source of DC power is a cell in a flashlight. The abbreviations AC and DC are often used to mean simply alternating and direct, the usual waveform of alternating current in most electric power circuits is a sine wave. In certain applications, different waveforms are used, such as triangular or square waves, audio and radio signals carried on electrical wires are also examples of alternating current. These types of alternating current carry information encoded onto the AC signal and these currents typically alternate at higher frequencies than those used in power transmission. Electrical energy is distributed as alternating current because AC voltage may be increased or decreased with a transformer, use of a higher voltage leads to significantly more efficient transmission of power. The power losses in a conductor are a product of the square of the current and this means that when transmitting a fixed power on a given wire, if the current is halved, the power loss will be four times less. Power is often transmitted at hundreds of kilovolts, and transformed to 100–240 volts for domestic use, high voltages have disadvantages, such as the increased insulation required, and generally increased difficulty in their safe handling. In a power plant, energy is generated at a convenient voltage for the design of a generator, near the loads, the transmission voltage is stepped down to the voltages used by equipment. Consumer voltages vary somewhat depending on the country and size of load, the voltage delivered to equipment such as lighting and motor loads is standardized, with an allowable range of voltage over which equipment is expected to operate. Standard power utilization voltages and percentage tolerance vary in the different mains power systems found in the world, high-voltage direct-current electric power transmission systems have become more viable as technology has provided efficient means of changing the voltage of DC power. HVDC systems, however, tend to be expensive and less efficient over shorter distances than transformers. Three-phase electrical generation is very common, the simplest way is to use three separate coils in the generator stator, physically offset by an angle of 120° to each other. Three current waveforms are produced that are equal in magnitude and 120° out of phase to each other, if coils are added opposite to these, they generate the same phases with reverse polarity and so can be simply wired together. In practice, higher pole orders are commonly used, for example, a 12-pole machine would have 36 coils. The advantage is that lower rotational speeds can be used to generate the same frequency, for example, a 2-pole machine running at 3600 rpm and a 12-pole machine running at 600 rpm produce the same frequency, the lower speed is preferable for larger machines. If the load on a system is balanced equally among the phases. Even in the worst-case unbalanced load, the current will not exceed the highest of the phase currents
11.
Hertz
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The hertz is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units and is defined as one cycle per second. It is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the first person to provide proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. Hertz are commonly expressed in SI multiples kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz, kilo means thousand, mega meaning million, giga meaning billion and tera for trillion. Some of the units most common uses are in the description of waves and musical tones, particularly those used in radio-. It is also used to describe the speeds at which computers, the hertz is equivalent to cycles per second, i. e. 1/second or s −1. In English, hertz is also used as the plural form, as an SI unit, Hz can be prefixed, commonly used multiples are kHz, MHz, GHz and THz. One hertz simply means one cycle per second,100 Hz means one hundred cycles per second, and so on. The unit may be applied to any periodic event—for example, a clock might be said to tick at 1 Hz, the rate of aperiodic or stochastic events occur is expressed in reciprocal second or inverse second in general or, the specific case of radioactive decay, becquerels. Whereas 1 Hz is 1 cycle per second,1 Bq is 1 aperiodic radionuclide event per second, the conversion between a frequency f measured in hertz and an angular velocity ω measured in radians per second is ω =2 π f and f = ω2 π. This SI unit is named after Heinrich Hertz, as with every International System of Units unit named for a person, the first letter of its symbol is upper case. Note that degree Celsius conforms to this rule because the d is lowercase. — Based on The International System of Units, the hertz is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who made important scientific contributions to the study of electromagnetism. The name was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1930, the term cycles per second was largely replaced by hertz by the 1970s. One hobby magazine, Electronics Illustrated, declared their intention to stick with the traditional kc. Mc. etc. units, sound is a traveling longitudinal wave which is an oscillation of pressure. Humans perceive frequency of waves as pitch. Each musical note corresponds to a frequency which can be measured in hertz. An infants ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, the range of ultrasound, infrasound and other physical vibrations such as molecular and atomic vibrations extends from a few femtoHz into the terahertz range and beyond. Electromagnetic radiation is described by its frequency—the number of oscillations of the perpendicular electric and magnetic fields per second—expressed in hertz. Radio frequency radiation is measured in kilohertz, megahertz, or gigahertz
12.
Parking
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Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings users, countries and local governments have rules for design and use of parking spaces. In the U. S. after the first public parking garage for vehicles was opened in Boston, May 24,1898. In cities of the Eastern US, many former livery stables, with lifts for carriages, the following terms give regional variations. All except carport refer to outdoor multi-level parking facilities, in some regional dialects, some of these phrases refer also to indoor or single-level facilities. Elsewhere, the ramp would apply to the inclines between floors of a parking garage, but not to the entire structure itself. Multi-storey car park Car park Parking structure Parking garage Parking building Carport Cycle park Parkade In addition to basic car parking/parking lots variations of serviced parking types exist. Common serviced parking types are, Park and ride Valet Parking Airport Parking Meet and Greet Parking Park, Parking lots specifically for bicycles are becoming more prevalent in many countries. These may include bicycle parking racks and locks, as well as modern technologies for security. For instance, one parking lot in Tokyo has an automated parking system. Urban parking spaces can have a value where the price of land is high. In Boston in 2009 a single parking space sold for $300,000, in congested urban areas parking of motor vehicles is time-consuming and often expensive. Urban planners who are in a position to override market forces must consider whether, the costs or subsidies of such parking accommodations can become a heated point in local politics. For example, in 2006 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors considered a controversial zoning plan to limit the number of vehicle parking spaces available in new residential developments. Heated social discourse sometimes revolves around the sense of ownership that informally arises, many use parking chairs and other markers, usually without approval of municipal authorities. For example, during the winter of 2005 in Boston, the practice of some people saving convenient roadway for themselves became controversial. At that time, many Boston districts had a convention that if a person shoveled the snow out of a roadspace
13.
Clear Creek (Colorado)
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Clear Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 66 miles long, in north central Colorado in the United States. The creek flows through Clear Creek Canyon in the Rocky Mountains directly west of Denver, Clear Creek is unusual in that it is a stream named creek fed by a stream named river. Fall River empties into Clear Creek along I-70 west of Idaho Springs, the creek is famous as the location of the most intense early mining activity during the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859. Mountain man Jim Baker had a cabin on the creek from 1873 until his death in 1898, the creek provided the route of the Colorado Central Railroad, and later for U. S. Highway 6 and Interstate 70 as they ascend to the Continental Divide west of Denver. The creek rises at the divide near Loveland Pass in the Front Range. It descends eastward through Clear Creek Canyon past the towns of Silver Plume, Georgetown, within the canyon it receives numerous smaller tributary creeks that descend from the rugged mountains on either side. At the mouth of the canyon, the passes through the town of Golden. East of the foothills, it flows through the northwest part of the Denver Metropolitan Area, passing through north Lakewood and Wheat Ridge, along this section it is largely an ignored urban stream, with an undeveloped floodplain. Part of the path forms a wooded park with bicycle/foot path. It passes under Interstate 25 between its junction with Interstate 70 and U. S. Highway 36 and it joins the South Platte from the west in southeast Thornton, near the junction of Interstate 76 and State Highway 224. Clear Creek was originally named Cannonball Creek as early as 1820, called so by the French hunters of the expedition of Stephen H. Long, after the river rocks in its bed. In the 1830s it became known as Vasquez Fork, also Vasquez River, after the fur trader Louis Vasquez who had his fort at the mouth of the river and it gained its present name from the gold rushers in 1859. List of rivers of Colorado Crabtree Creek, another creek with a river tributary
14.
U.S. Route 287 in Colorado
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U. S. Route 287 is the portion of a north-south highway in Colorado that travels from the Oklahoma state line just south of Campo to the Wyoming state line north of Fort Collins. Heading from the Oklahoma border, US287 and US385, upon entering the state, pass through Campo, in Lamar and Carlton, the highways split at an interchange with US50, where US287 continues north, this time concurrent with US50. Just outside the town the highways make a turn toward the west. South of Wiley, US50 heads west, while US287 turns north toward Wiley, east of Eads, Colorado US287 turns toward the west again, briefly merging with SH96. In Eads SH96 continues west, while US287 moves north, just east of Kit Carson, US287 again turns toward the west and merges with US40. East of Limon, the two highways make two interchanges with I-70 before entering Limon, after a brief concurrency with US24, the two highways merge with I-70. Near the outskirts of Aurora US36 merges with the group of highways as well, just past E-470, I-70 and US36 split to follow a more northerly course, while US287 and US40 continue west into Downtown Denver on Colfax Avenue. The I-25, US6, US87, and US85 interchange marks US 287s second junction with its parent route, US87. Shortly thereafter, at an interchange with Federal Boulevard, SH88 runs south, US40 continues west. After crossing I-76 and then US36 for a second time, just before meeting US36 again in Broomfield, US287 bends back to the north, leaving CO128 to continues west. At Baseline Road in Lafayette, SH7 joins US287 for about a mile, US287 intersects SH119 as it enters Longmont on the very busy Main Street, then intersects SH66 at the north edge of town. The road bypasses Berthoud en route to Loveland, where US287 splits into the pair of one-way streets, US287 passes through Fort Collins on College Avenue, merging with SH14 at Jefferson Street. On the edge of the mountains, SH14 splits and heads west into Poudre Canyon, the section of US287 between Fort Collins, Colorado and Laramie, Wyoming carries very heavy truck traffic and was once considered dangerous. The original US287 only traveled from Denver past the Wyoming state line in 1935, in 1940, US287 was expanded past the Oklahoma state line, replacing US285. After the head-on crash in 2001, there were people lobbying for a widening of US287 at the Wyoming state line and their request was answered in April 2009. Throughout 2012, the highway was expanded to three lanes north of Fort Collins, was resurfaced, and contained shoulders to prevent such accidents
15.
B Line (RTD)
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Part of the FasTracks project, the first 6. 2-mile section from downtown Denver to south Westminster opened on July 25,2016. The B Lines southern terminus is at Union Station in Denver and it runs on a railroad right-of-way north sharing track with the G Line until the Pecos Station after which the two routes diverge. Initially, the B Line continues north to its terminus at Westminster Station and it will start stopping at 41st & Fox station and Pecos Junction Station, which will both be served by the G Line, on May 21,2017. In 2004, Colorado voters approved FasTracks, a public transportation expansion plan. The first segment of the B Line is under construction as part of the Eagle P3 project and is expected to open in 2017, the remaining segment, extending to downtown Longmont, will require additional funding in order to be completed prior to 2044. The announcement angered many voters in the cities and suburbs north of Denver, the downturn in the economy and significant cost increases and delays associated with building and operating Northwest Rail led to the initiation of the year-long Northwest Area Mobility Study. This new system has been criticized as bus rapid transit creep
16.
Interstate 70 in Colorado
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Interstate 70 is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Cove Fort, Utah to Baltimore, Maryland. In Colorado, the highway traverses an east–west route across the center of the state, in western Colorado, the highway connects the metropolitan areas of Grand Junction and Denver via a route through the Rocky Mountains. In eastern Colorado, the crosses the Great Plains, connecting Denver with metropolitan areas in Kansas. Bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles, normally prohibited on Interstate Highways, are allowed on those stretches of I-70 in the Rockies where no other through route exists. The Eisenhower Tunnel, with an elevation of 11,158 feet and length of 1.7 miles, is the longest mountain tunnel. The portion through Glenwood Canyon was completed on October 14,1992 and this was one of the final pieces of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic, and is one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the United States. The Colorado Department of Transportation earned the 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the completion of I-70 through the canyon, when the Interstate Highway system was in the planning stages, the western terminus of I-70 was proposed to be at Denver. The portion west of Denver was included into the plans after lobbying by Governor Edwin C, Johnson, for whom one of the tunnels along I-70 is named. East of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the corridor of U. S. Highway 40, West of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the route of U. S. Highway 6, which was extended into Colorado during the 1930s. I-70 enters Colorado from Utah, concurrent with US6 and US50, the plateau ends just past the state line and the highway descends into the Grand Valley, formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries. The Grand Valley is home to several towns and small cities that form the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area, the highway directly serves the communities of Fruita, Grand Junction and Palisade. Grand Junction is the largest city between Denver and Salt Lake City and serves as the hub of the area. The freeway passes to the north of downtown, while US6 and 50 retain their original routes through downtown, US6 rejoins I-70 east of Grand Junction, US50 departs on a course toward Pueblo. I-70 exits the valley through De Beque Canyon, a path carved by the Colorado River that separates the Book Cliffs from Battlement Mesa, the river and its tributaries provide the course for the ascent up the Rocky Mountains. In the canyon, I-70 enters the Beavertail Mountain Tunnel, the first of several built to route the freeway across the Rockies. This tunnel design features a curved sidewall, unusual for tunnels in the United States, Engineers borrowed a European design to give the tunnel added strength. After the canyon winds past the Book Cliffs, the highway follows the Colorado River through a valley containing the communities of Parachute, approaching the city of Glenwood Springs, the highway enters Glenwood Canyon. A 12-mile section of roadway features the No Name Tunnel, Hanging Lake Tunnel, Reverse Curve Tunnel,40 bridges and viaducts, and miles of retaining walls
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Interstate 25 in Colorado
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In the U. S. state of Colorado, Interstate 25 follows the north–south corridor through Colorado Springs and Denver. The highway enters the state from the north near Carr and exits the state near Starkville, the highway also runs through the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland, and Pueblo. The route is concurrent with U. S. Highway 87 through the length of the state. I-25 replaced U. S. Highway 87 and most of U. S. Highway 85 for through traffic, historical nicknames for this route have included the Valley Highway, Monument Valley Highway, and the Pueblo Freeway. Within El Paso County, the route has been dedicated as the Ronald Reagan Highway, in Pueblo County, the route is called John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway. Interstate 25 is also considered to be part of the unofficial Pan-American Highway, the route turns from north to west-northwest as I-25 serves Wootton. After leaving Wootton, I-25 turns back up north and bypasses near the east side of the Trinidad Lake State Park, Trinidad, a city near the Trinidad Lake, is the first major city that lies along I-25. For the next 30 miles, I-25 continues north through the areas of Colorado until it reaches the small city of Walsenburg. I-25 then continues in a north-northwest direction until it bypasses the Orlando Reservoir, in Colorado City, I-25 interchanges with the east end of the Frontier Pathways Scenic and Historic Byway at exit 74. The Arkansas River in Pueblo serves as a feeder to the Lake Pueblo State Park, home of the Pueblo Lake, which is located to the west of the western city limits of Pueblo. After leaving Pueblo, I-25 continues up north with the Union Pacific Railroad line paralleling closely to the route on the side after interchanging with Porter Draw at exit 106. By exit 119, the Fountain Creek joins along and travels parallel with I-25, I-25 gradually turns from a general north direction to the north-northwest and serves the census-designated place of Buttes at exit 122. As soon as US85 leaves I-25 at exit 128, I-25 enters the city limits of Fountain, basically, I-25 serves as the border between the western city limits of Fountain on the east side of I-25 and Fort Carson on the west side. Exit 132 serves the north side of the Fountain Creek Regional Park as well as the entrance to Fort Carson and connects to SH21, the eastern bypass for the Colorado Springs metro area. By the time I-25 reaches exit 138, the route crosses into the city limits of Colorado Springs, I-25 turns west at exit 140, along with the Fountain Creek, where it interchanges with US85, US87, and I-25 Bus. I-25 again turns north by exit 141. Swinging around the west side of downtown Colorado Springs at exit 142, and to the north of the city lies the Colorado College, continuing north and northeast, the highway intersects the north terminus of I-25 Bus. and US85. The interstate leaves Colorado Springs between exits 153 and 156, where I-25 enters the United States Air Force Academy, going through the east side of the institution
18.
South Platte River
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The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U. S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and it joins the North Platte River in western Nebraska to form the Platte, which then flows across Nebraska to the Missouri. The river serves as the source of water for eastern Colorado. In its valley along the foothills in Colorado, it has permitted agriculture in an area of the Colorado Piedmont and Great Plains that is otherwise arid. The river is formed in Park County, Colorado, southwest of Denver in the South Park grassland basin by the confluence of the South Fork and Middle Fork, approximately 15 miles southeast of Fairplay. Both forks rise along the flank of the Mosquito Range, on the western side of South Park. From South Park, it passes through 50 miles of the Platte Canyon, here, it is joined by the North Fork before emerging from the foothills southwest of the Denver suburb of Littleton. At Littleton, the river is impounded to form Chatfield Reservoir, the river flows north through central Denver, which was founded along its banks at its confluence with Cherry Creek. The valley through Denver is highly industrialized, serving generally as the route for both the lines, as well as Interstate 25. On the north side of Denver it is joined somewhat inconspicuously by Clear Creek, North of Denver it flows through the agricultural heartland of the Piedmont. East of Greeley it turns eastward, flowing across the Colorado Eastern Plains, past Fort Morgan and Brush and it continues past Sterling, and runs into Nebraska between Julesburg, Colorado and Big Springs, Nebraska. In Nebraska, it passes south of Ogallala and joins the North Platte River near the city of North Platte. The South Platte River through Denver is on the U. S. EPAs list of impaired waterbodies for pathogen impairment, other water issues involve the appearance of the New Zealand Mud Snail and of the Zebra Mussel. The South Platte was originally called Niinéniiniicíihéhe by the native Arapaho people who lived on its banks, the early Spanish explorers called it the Rio Chato. The South Platte River also served as a water source in Colorado. Long before the city of Denver was created many travelers came to the South Platte River to escape the arid Great Plains and these people could survive the heat but not without the vital water source that the South Platte River gave them. Buckets and wells sufficed as a system for a while. In an arid region of the United States, the South Platte is marked with several dams, the first notable water impoundment on the South Platte is Antero Reservoir
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N Line (RTD)
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The first 13 miles from downtown Denver to 124th Avenue in Thornton is under construction as part of the FasTracks expansion plan. When fully built out the line will be 18.5 miles long and pass through Denver, Commerce City, Northglenn, the N Line will have Colorados longest bridge at 9,533 feet called the Skyway Bridge. The possibilities and studies for a line in the North Metropolitan Denver have existed since the opening of the Light Rail Central Corridor in 1994. In the 2004 election year voters approved the North Metro Corridor as part of the RTD FasTracks expansion plan, in September 2006 the Environmental Impact Statement was started, with completion in late 2010, and gaining approval by the Federal Transit Administration in April 2011. A preexisting railroad right-of-way for the line was purchased in 2009, contract to build the North Metro Rail line to 124th Avenue was awarded to Graham, Balfour Beatty, Hamon Constructors November 2013 with notice to proceed in December 2013. The GBBH contract included an option that when funding available RTD can exercise option to build the line to 162nd Avenue, groundbreaking of the N Lines construction occurred March 20,2014 with expected completion in 2018. The N Lines southern terminus is at Union Station in Denver and it runs mostly on a preexisting railroad right-of-way to its northern terminus at Eastlake / 124th Station. In 2004 Colorado voters approved FasTracks, a public transportation expansion plan. In 2009 RTD paid $117 million to purchase the right-of-way from Union Pacific in preparation for the out of the North Metro rail line. However, with the recession of 2009, the North Metro Corridor became a victim of financial setbacks. RTD was able to further delaying the construction of the line when it accepted an unsolicited offer in 2013 to build out the full line in two stages
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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
21.
Amtrak
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Founded in 1971 to take over most of the remaining U. S. passenger rail services, it is partially government funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation. Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains each day over 21,300 miles of track, some track sections allow trains to run as fast as 150 mph. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas, 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D. C, the name Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track. From the mid-19th century until about 1920, nearly all intercity travelers in the United States moved by rail, historically, U. S. passenger trains were owned and operated by the same privately owned companies that operated freight trains. About 65,000 railroad passenger cars operated in 1929, from 1920 into the later 20th century, passenger rails popularity diminished and there was a series of pullbacks and tentative recoveries. Rail passenger revenues declined dramatically between 1920 and 1934 because of the rise of the automobile, in the same period, many travelers were lost to interstate bus companies such as Greyhound Lines. However, in the mid-1930s, railroads reignited popular imagination with service improvements and new, diesel-powered streamliners, such as the gleaming silver Pioneer Zephyr and Flying Yankee. Even with the improvements, on a basis, traffic continued to decline. World War II broke the malaise, passenger traffic soared sixfold thanks to troop movements, in 1946, there remained 45 percent fewer passenger trains than in 1929, and the decline quickened despite railroad optimism. Passengers disappeared and so did trains, few trains generated profits, most produced losses. Broad-based passenger rail deficits appeared as early as 1948, and by the mid-1950s, by 1965, only 10,000 rail passenger cars were in operation,85 percent fewer than in 1929. Passenger service was provided on only 75,000 miles of track, the 1960s also saw the end of railway post office revenues, which had helped some of the remaining trains break even. The causes of the decline of rail in the United States were complex. Until 1920, rail was the practical form of intercity transport. By 1930, the companies had constructed, with private funding. In 1916, the amount of track in the United States peaked at 254,251 miles, some rail routes had been built primarily to facilitate the sale of stock in the railroad companies, they were redundant from the beginning. These were the first to be abandoned as the financial positions deteriorated
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California Zephyr
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The California Zephyr is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Emeryville, California, via Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. At 2,438 miles it is Amtraks longest route after the Texas Eagle, Amtrak claims the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the upper Colorado River valley in the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. It was scheduled to pass through the most spectacular scenery on its route in the daylight. Since 1983 the California Zephyr name has applied to the Amtrak service, which operates daily and is a hybrid of the route of the original Zephyr and its former rival. During fiscal year 2012, the California Zephyr carried more than 376,000 passengers, the train had a total revenue of $47,605,728 in 2012, a 6. 4% increase on 2011. Cars owned by different railroads ran together, cars cycled in and out for service, repairs, and varying passenger loads with the seasons. The first train was named in San Francisco by Eleanor Parker while California Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight, mayor of San Francisco Elmer Robinson, for the inaugural run in 1949, every woman on the train was given silver and orange orchids flown from Hilo, Hawaii. The car hostesses were known as Zephyrettes, in summer 1954 the schedule for 2,532 miles Chicago to San Francisco was 50hr 50min. An eastbound California Zephyr through Ruby Canyon saw the trains first birth on March 1,1955, the California Zephyr was not immune to falling passenger travel in the 1960s, moreover, it began to lose money even when sold out. The Western Pacific applied to discontinue its portion in 1966 but the Interstate Commerce Commission refused after public outcry. The D&RGW made the same request in 1969 and in 1970 the ICC permitted Western Pacific to end its portion, provided the D&RGW, the last westbound California Zephyr to the west coast left Chicago on March 22,1970 and arrived in Oakland two days later. The California Zephyr had operated for 21 years and 2 days, east of Salt Lake City the train was reduced to a tri-weekly schedule, operating as California Service on the Burlington and as the Rio Grande Zephyr on the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande portion of the train was extended beyond Salt Lake to Ogden, Utah, allowing Nevada and this continued until the creation of Amtrak on May 1,1971. After debuting on the Denver Zephyr in 1936, they served on the California Zephyr from 1949 until it was discontinued in 1970, at any one time, there were 10 or 11 Zephyrettes who were actively employed. When Amtrak revived the California Zephyr in 1983 it invited a former Zephyrette, Beulah Bauman, a pair of the Western Pacifics Budd Rail Diesel Cars, replacements for the Royal Gorge, also picked up the name Zephyrette. At the last minute, the Rio Grande refused to join Amtrak and this forced Amtrak on to the Union Pacifics Overland Route through southern Wyoming instead of Colorado. The Rio Grande continued to operate the Rio Grande Zephyr between Denver and Ogden, in 1983 the D&RGW elected to join Amtrak, citing increasing losses in passenger operations. Amtrak re-routed the San Francisco Zephyr over the D&RGWs Moffat Subdivision between Denver and Salt Lake City, its preference from 1971
23.
C Line (RTD)
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The line was added to the system on April 5,2002, to coincide with the opening of the Central Platte Valley Spur. Initially, C trains operated seven days a week, but ran to Mineral Ave. only during peak hours, at all other times, C service operated to I-25/Broadway. On May 3,2003, C trains began operating to Mineral Ave. at all times. With the opening of the Southeast Corridor on November 17,2006, weekend C service was discontinued except for sporting events. On January 11,2009, the service pattern between Union Station and I-25/Broadway was resumed and evening service discontinued. Midday weekday service was discontinued on January 19,2012 and was reinstated on August 17,2014 over the entire route, the 2004 voter approved FasTracks plan will add 2.5 mi to the Southwest Corridor. It will also add a station with 1,000 parking spots at C-470, there may also be a station at C-470 and Santa Fe Boulevard. This extension may open as soon as 2017
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E Line (RTD)
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The E Line, sometimes known as the Purple Line, is part of the light rail system operated by the Regional Transportation District in the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The line was added to the system on November 17,2006 and it is one of four routes that are part of the RTDs service plan for the corridor. Although it operates seven days per week, the E line does not operate during midday hours on weekdays as of January 11,2009. According to a map in the RTDs current service plan for the corridor, the E Lines northern terminus is at Union Station in downtown Denver. It shares track with the C Line from Union Station to I-25 & Broadway, then diverges by a junction onto a flyover. The 2004 voter-approved FasTracks initiative will add 2.3 mi to the Southeast Corridor and it will also add three stations at Sky Ridge Medical Center, Lone Tree City Center and RidgeGate Parkway, with a 2,000 space parking lot at RidgeGate. Regional Transportation District has sent four teams a Request for Proposal on the Southeast Corridor extension expected due in May 2015, the Southeast Rail Line Extension plan is to extend light rail transit service to the new RidgeGate Parkway Interchange. Additional stations at Sky Ridge Medical Center, Lone Tree City Center, and new R Line terminus station at RidgeGate will have an expected opening in 2019
25.
W Line (RTD)
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The W Line, also called the West Rail Line, is a Light Rail line in Denver, Lakewood, and Golden, Colorado, United States. The W Line was the first part of FasTracks to break ground, the line, the only line to traverse the West Corridor, opened for service on Friday, April 26,2013. The Denver Lakewood and Golden Railway started operations in the area in 1893, the route ran from the downtown Denver streetcar loop, through the Lakewood Dry Gulch near 13th Avenue and continued out to Golden. Interurban service continued until 1950, when all Denver area trolley, plans to resurrect a railway line from Denver to Golden were advanced in the mid-1970s and in the 1980s RTD purchased the right-of-way to an unused rail corridor between the two cities. A Major Investment Study conducted in 1997 stated the need for a transit corridor through the region. The Environmental Impact Statement was started in 2001 and finished with a Finding of No Significant Impact or FONSI in 2003, a rail-pulling ceremony was held on the 13th Avenue corridor on May 16,2007 and construction started in earnest in early 2008. The first full test run of the line happened Jan,3,2013 in anticipation of the official opening, April 26,2013, eight months ahead of schedule. The W Line follows the Central Platte Valley Corridor from Union Station, stopping at Pepsi Center/Elitch Gardens, Sports Authority Field at Mile High and a relocated Auraria West Campus station. It then leaves the CPV corridor, following a new bridge over the UP/BNSF Consolidated Main Line, traveling under Interstate 25, over the South Platte River. From the Federal Center the line narrows to a track line and travels west along U. S.6. This section is single track with the exception of a stop at Red Rocks Community College. The W Line is the first light rail route in metro Denver to make use of gated grade crossings within its right-of-way. Some of the route goes through residential areas and concerns about noise led to a solution for the warning system at crossing gates. The warning bells will adjust their volume in response to the ambient noise resulting in 50-70 dB during the evening hours compared to the volume of 90-100 dB. Three different fare zones exist along the W Line, RTD W Line Schedule Official website
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Electric multiple unit
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An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages. An EMU is usually formed of two or more semi-permanently coupled carriages, but electrically powered single-unit railcars are also classed as EMUs. EMUs are popular on commuter and suburban rail networks around the world due to their fast acceleration, being quieter than DMUs and locomotive-drawn trains, EMUs can operate later at night and more frequently without disturbing residents living near the railway lines. The first EMUs were used on the elevated Liverpool Overhead Railway in 1893, the southern terminal of the railway was underground, giving the LOR the distinction of also being the first to use EMUs underground. Each carriage had a traction motor and was specifically designed and constructed to be light in weight while running on elevated steel sections. The first EMUs were two-carriage trains later graduating to three carriages, with the front and rear carriages powered, Liverpool Museum retains an example of the Liverpool Overhead Railway EMU carriage. An early proponent of EMUs was the American engineer Frank J. Sprague, the cars that form a complete EMU set can usually be separated by function into four types, power car, motor car, driving car, and trailer car. Each car can have more than one function, such as a car or power-driving car. A power car carries the equipment to draw power from the electrified infrastructure, such as pickup shoes for third rail systems and pantographs for overhead systems. Motor cars carry the traction motors to move the train, and are combined with the power car to avoid high-voltage inter-car connections. Driving cars are similar to a cab car, containing a drivers cab for controlling the train, an EMU will usually have two driving cars at its outer ends. Trailer cars are any cars that carry little or no traction or power related equipment, on third rail systems the outer vehicles usually carry the pick up shoes, with the motor vehicles receiving the current via intra-unit connections. Many modern 2-car EMU sets are set up as married pair units, while both units in a married pair are typically driving motors, the ancillary equipment are shared between the two cars in the set. Since neither car can operate without its partner, such sets are permanently coupled, advantages of married pair units include weight and cost savings over single-unit cars while allowing all cars to be powered, unlike a motor-trailer combination. Disadvantages include a loss of flexibility, as trains must be multiples of two cars, and a failure on a single car could force removing both it and its partner from service. The retired New York–Washington Metroliner service, first operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and later by Amtrak, also featured high-speed electric multiple-unit cars, diesel multiple unit Battery electric multiple unit British electric multiple units Media related to Electric multiple unit at Wikimedia Commons
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Wheat Ridge, Colorado
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Wheat Ridge is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Wheat Ridge is a suburb of Denver. The Wheat Ridge Municipal Center is approximately 5 miles west-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, the city had a population of 30,166 as of the 2010 Census. Although Wheat Ridge is a relatively young incorporated city, it has a history based on agriculture and it grew from a popular rest stop for travelers during the Gold Rush of the late 1850s to an agricultural and suburban community known as the “Carnation City” in the mid 1900s. During that era, the formation of numerous utility and fire districts provided these unincorporated areas with urban services. Eventually, due to the increasing pressure from nearby municipalities. Wheat Ridge is located at 39°45′58″N 105°04′38″W at an elevation of 5,459 feet, located at the junction of Interstate 70 and Colorado State Highway 391 in central Colorado, the city is immediately west of Denver and 66 miles north-northwest of Colorado Springs. Wheat Ridge is located in the Colorado Piedmont on the edge of the Great Plains just east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Clear Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River, flows east then northeast through the city, lena Gulch, a tributary of Clear Creek, flows northeast through the southwest part of the city. There are several lakes and reservoirs in Wheat Ridge. Crown Hill Lake, Kestrel Pond, and North Henry Lee Reservoir are located in the part of the city. West Lake, Tabor Lake, and Propsect Lake are located along Clear Creek in the part of the city. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 9.55 square miles of which 9.30 square miles is land and 0.25 square miles of it is water. As a suburb of Denver, Wheat Ridge is part of both the greater Denver metropolitan area and the Front Range Urban Corridor, the climate is described as Humid Continental by the Köppen Climate System, abbreviated as Dfb. As of the 2010 census, there were 30,166 people,13,976 households, the population density was 3,243.7 people per square mile. There were 14,868 housing units at a density of 1,598.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 85. 6% White,1. 6% Asian,1. 2% African American,1. 2% American Indian,0. 1% Pacific Islander,6. 9% from other races, and 3. 4% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 20. 9% of the population,38. 4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14. 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older
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Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
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Federal Railroad Administration
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The Federal Railroad Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation. The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, the FRA is one of 10 agencies within DOT concerned with intermodal transportation. It operates through seven divisions under the offices of the Administrator and these divisions are, Financial Management and Administration, Chief Counsel, Civil Rights, Public Affairs, Public Engagement, Railroad Policy and Development, and Safety. It has a staff of about 850, until the inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20,2017, Sarah Feinberg was the Administrator of the FRA. Feinberg was the woman to lead the agency. Her appointment was announced by United States Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx on January 12,2015, Feinberg had previously served as Foxxs Chief of Staff, managing DOTs ten modal organizations, and spearheading its legislative, policy, and communications efforts. Feinbergs tenure as Administrator featured an emphasis on the enforcement of safety rules. Patrick T. Warren, Executive Director of the FRA, is the current acting Administrator pending the appointment, previous FRA Administrators include, Joe Szabo, the first FRA Administrator to be chosen from the ranks of railroad employment. Eby Joseph H. Boardman, former President and CEO of Amtrak, in June 2015, the FRA announced that Google would include the FRAs GIS data into its mapping services. The data pinpoints the location of over 250,000 rail crossings in the United States, the FRA believes that providing the location of rail crossings in maps will enhance crossing safety by people who are using navigation systems while driving. The Federal Transit Administration provides financial and technical assistance to public transit agencies. The Interstate Commerce Commission regulated railroad safety prior to creation of the FRA, the National Transportation Safety Board investigates accidents and crashes involving railroads. The United States Railroad Administration operated from 1917 to 1920, rail speed limits in the United States Federal Railroad Administration Records of the Federal Railroad Administration in the National Archives Federal Railroad Administration in the Federal Register
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FasTracks
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FasTracks is a multibillion-dollar public transportation expansion plan under construction in metropolitan Denver, Colorado, United States. Developed by the Regional Transportation District, the plan consists of new rail, light rail. Six new light rail, electric rail and diesel commuter rail lines with a combined length of 122 miles will be constructed under the plan. Originally envisioned to cost $4.7 billion and to be completed in 2017, the 2008 global financial crisis caused a drop in revenues and material costs rose faster than forecast. By 2010, the budget grew to $6.5 billion while projected revenues dropped to $4.1 billion, another tax increase was not put on the 2010 or 2012 ballot, although the project is not expected to be finished until at least 2044. Alternative funding sources, such as partnerships, have been sought to complete projects as quickly as possible. The first of the six new lines envisioned in the plan, by mid-2014, construction was underway on the five other rail lines. Two commuter rail lines opened on their dates in 2016, the East Rail Line to Denver International Airport. The Gold Line to Arvada along with the I-225 Rail Line through Aurora, were expected to open in 2016, in addition, the North Metro Rail Line to Thornton is expected open in 2018. Denver Union Station underwent $200 million worth of facility improvements to turn it into the hub for new commuter, the underground 22-bay bus concourse at Union Station opened on May 11,2014, while the restaurants, bars, and hotel officially opened July 26,2014. FasTracks is estimated to have injected $3 billion into the economy from 2005 to 2013 and is responsible for creating 12,000 direct full-time jobs since 2005. FasTracks is being funded with federal appropriations, private contributions, the project was allowed to begin when the sales tax portion of its funding was approved by Denver metro area voters in November 2004. The tax went into effect in January 2005, in 2006, engineering design of the initial segment, the West Rail Line, was begun. By spring of 2006, the environmental impact statements of all proposed lines were underway. The municipal governments of Denver, Boulder, and Lakewood had launched detailed studies of community redevelopment possibilities around station locations. The cities of Westminster, Thornton, Aurora, Greenwood Village, Englewood, Sheridan, central to the regional nature of the service package is Union Station. Special studies of its redevelopment and adaptation for multiple transport modes were conducted and engineering design work, in May 2007, a $1.5 billion budget overrun was reported. Despite service and construction reductions, by January 2010 the budget had grown to $6.5 billion, at the same time, sales tax revenue forecasts for 2017 were projected to come in much less than originally anticipated leaving the project $2.45 billion short
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Federal Transit Administration
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The Federal Transit Administration is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administrations within the DOT, until 1991, it was known as the Urban Mass Transportation Administration. Public transportation includes buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, monorail, passenger boats, trolleys, inclined railways. The federal government, through the FTA, provides assistance to develop new transit systems and improve, maintain. The FTA oversees grants to state and local providers, primarily through its ten regional offices. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy sent a major transportation message to the U. S. Congress and it called for the establishment of a program of federal capital assistance for mass transportation. Said President Kennedy, To conserve and enhance values in existing urban areas is essential, but at least as important are steps to promote economic efficiency and livability in areas of future development. The agency was charged with providing assistance for mass transit projects. In 1991, the agency was renamed the Federal Transit Administration, the current Acting Administrator is Carolyn Flowers, having assumed the post in April 2016. The last confirmed FTA Administrator, from May 2009 to January 2014, was Peter M. Rogoff, below is a list of past administrators. Official website American Recovery & Reinvestment Act Federal Transit Administration in the Federal Register
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Ray LaHood
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Raymond H. Ray LaHood is an American politician who served as United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 until 2013. A Republican from Illinois, LaHood represented Illinoiss 18th congressional district in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2009. In 2015, LaHoods book, Seeking Bipartisanship, My Life in Politics, LaHood was born in Peoria, Illinois, the son of Edward M. LaHood, a Lebanese American who managed a restaurant, and Mary A. LaHood, who was of German ancestry. In 2006, he was one of four Arab American members of Congress and he graduated from Spalding Institute, worked his way through Canton Junior College and Bradley University in Peoria, earning a Bachelor of Science in education and sociology in 1971. Following graduation, he taught middle school studies at public and Catholic schools. About the constitution and government stirred his interest in politics, LaHood was director of the Rock Island County Youth Services Bureau and then district administrative assistant for U. S. representative Tom Railsback, a Moline, Illinois Republican, from 1977 to 1982. He was appointed in 1982 to fill a vacant seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, serving for nine months, and running for the seat in November 1982, but losing to Democrat Bob DeJaegher. LaHood then became assistant and ultimately the chief of staff to U. S. House Minority Leader Robert Michel. When Michel announced his retirement in 1994, LaHood ran for and won his seat in the House, in 1997, in an effort to promote bipartisan cooperation, LaHood organized bipartisan retreats for members of Congress. During his service in Congress, he became well-known among C-SPAN viewers as the officer of more debates than any other member. Most notably, in 1998 he presided over the debate over the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. LaHood was an advocate for preserving the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. In 2005 he voted against renewing the PATRIOT Act, saying he opposed extending its intrusive police powers, LaHood was said to be considering a challenge to Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevichs re-election bid in 2006, but chose to run for another term in Congress instead. He won the 2006 race against Steve Waterworth by a margin of 147,108 to 71,106, on July 26,2007, LaHood stated he would not seek re-election in 2008. In August 2007, LaHood received a 0% rating from the fiscally conservative 5014 organization Club for Growth 2007 RePORK Card and he received an 11% rating from the conservative lobbying group Citizens Against Government Waste in August 2007, and holds a lifetime 49% rating from the group. In 2007 LaHood considered, but later decided against, applying for the post of president of Bradley University and this doesnt befit the office that shes running for. And frankly, people dont like it, he said, on December 19,2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced that he would nominate LaHood to be the next Transportation Secretary. LaHood served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 1995 to 2000, some critics alleged a reputation for pork barrel spending, including in support of campaign contributors
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United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
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Gold
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Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79. In its purest form, it is a bright, slightly yellow, dense, soft, malleable. Chemically, gold is a metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions, Gold often occurs in free elemental form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the element silver and also naturally alloyed with copper. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium, golds atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher numbered, naturally occurring elements. It is thought to have produced in supernova nucleosynthesis, from the collision of neutron stars. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed, almost all of the present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of acid and hydrochloric acid. Gold also dissolves in solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction, as a precious metal, gold has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. A total of 186,700 tonnes of gold is in existence above ground, the world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Gold is also used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. As of 2014, the worlds largest gold producer by far was China with 450 tonnes, Gold is cognate with similar words in many Germanic languages, deriving via Proto-Germanic *gulþą from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. The symbol Au is from the Latin, aurum, the Latin word for gold, the Proto-Indo-European ancestor of aurum was *h₂é-h₂us-o-, meaning glow. This word is derived from the root as *h₂éu̯sōs, the ancestor of the Latin word Aurora. This etymological relationship is presumably behind the frequent claim in scientific publications that aurum meant shining dawn, Gold is the most malleable of all metals, a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, and an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be thin enough to become semi-transparent
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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
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Amtrak