AURORA, Colo. — The Denver-area Regional Transportation District will install an Automatic Train Stop safety system at a sharp 90-degree curve that has been the site of two light rail derailments, one of which shut down the RTD’s R Line through Aurora for more than two months, Colorado Public Radio reports.
As described in a report from consultant HNTB, the system will automatically apply brakes if trains are going 25 mph at a preset distance before reaching the curve at the intersection of East Exposition Avenue and South Sable Boulevard, or 10 mph at a spot closer to the curve. The report prepared earlier this year said the system would take a year to install and cost approximately $876,000. The project has been included in the agency’s 2024 budget, although no date for the start or completion of work has been set.
Both accidents at the site have been blamed on operators exceeding speed limits. In a 2019 accident that severed a passenger’s leg, the train was going 30 mph in a 10-mph zone. In September 2022, a train that derailed was going 39 mph [see “Denver-ara light-rail train that derailed …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 26, 2022]. That incident sent three people to hospitals for treatment. It also led the RTD to shut down a 4-mile stretch of the light rail R line including the accident site from Sept. 21 to Nov. 29, 2022; for about the last month of that period, the transit agency did not offer a bus bridge to connect the still operating portions of the R Line [see “After more than two months, full service restored …,” News Wire, Nov. 29, 2022].
I’m sure the consultants will make sure it’s as complicated (and expensive) as possible.
A number of systems have a train stop system, some more complicated than others. Why did RTD shut down for over a month, mostly without a bus bridge and without a solution to the problem?
A must-have app for beloved Denver.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
That’s right!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Vancouver and Montreal both systems are automated, eliminates the driver error issue. I understand I am comparing apples and oranges but the driver error issue has been eliminated.
That’s right!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün