The long awaited rail connection, A line, between downtown Denver and DIA (airport) opened this weekend with great fanfare. Just rode it yesterday. Roughly 30 minutes every 15 minutes during the day and 30 minutes in the evening. Very smooth with speeds approaching 80 mph.

The $9 fare is also an all day transit pass that can be used all day for other buses and light rail in the city. A really good deal for tourists arriving in Denver. When the R line connection at Peoria is completed later this year, the access to the Denver Tech Center and east side of Denver will be very easy.

The line to DIA is a heavy rail line with level boarding at all stations. The cars are very nice. The Denver transit system is evolution into an excellent and convenient system.

Having just been there, I found it very confusing that some people (locals I guess) refer to the airport as DIA. I had no idea what that was when I saw it in writing in various places or heard it because the IATA airport code is DEN. I've never been in some other city where they refer to the airport by letters that are completely different from the actual official airline code. In fact, DIA used to be the airport code where I live (Dulles International) which is why it was really confusing, but Dulles changed theirs to IAD to make sure it wasn't confused with the other local airport (DCA). I don't think DIA ever belonged to Denver.

Anyway, good news about the rail line.

That is interesting. For as long as we have been in Denver it has always been DIA - Denver International Airport. Guess I never thought of the connection to the IATA code.

In other Denver news, Union Pacific, Colorado Dept of Transportation, Amtrak and the Winter Park Ski resort are working on a plan to restart a "ski train" again from the newly built Denver Union Station out to the Winter Park ski area. Let's hope they have the new platform ready by November 1, 2016. The new platform has to be heated and the switches to the layover track must also be heated. Total cost is $3 million.
The old ski train made its last run in March 2009.
For anyone that wants to go to Glenwood Springs, CODoT is running a "Bustang" bus from Union Station starting at 8:05AM arriving about 1:46PM at the bus station in the south end of Glenwood Springs. From there you can ride the RFTA bus to Aspen.

That is great news. Charlotte has been trying to emulate Denver and light rail and would that it had sense enough to take it to the airport.
Well, I sort of looked for "DIA" when the new airport opened those years ago and that didn't get it for me either!!
Our son and family had the "ultimate" experience when DIA opened--flew IN to Stapleton and OUT of DIA. Don't you know that turnover was a tumult for the airlines from the ground up, so to speak. LOL

Good news, I've hoped for that for a long time.

Another oddball is Kansas City International Airport - "MCI." But everybody and the signage refer to "KCI."

The ski train died mostly because of the age of the equipment. The cars were old and expensive to maintain. A major issue was hotbox detection. Then what do you do with the equipment when it isn't being used a ski train. You cannot have hardware sitting around for nine months and not generating revenue.

@Gretchen - After the airport was shut down at midnight there was long wagon train of airport support equipment moving over a dirt road connecting the two airports. At that time you could get to the new airport without crossing any city streets or highways. Also at midnight work crews were out on all of the runways and immediately started tearing them up. By morning there were no operational landing strips available. Never understood that urgency.

That is interesting. I remember when later they destroyed that runway that went over I70 through a short tunnel. Read one time about the reason there were always backups there because of the "perception" that traffic had slowed, but it really hadn't. It had a traffic control "name" something like "the q r s effect" of people tapping brakes and it being translated backwards to the traffic lane.

This is great news. Unfortunately I'll be pushing up flowers before there is a rail line between Fort Collins and Denver!

> "ultimate" experience when DIA opened--flew IN to Stapleton and OUT of DIA

I had the opposite experience: flew OUT of Stapleton and IN to DIA, a day or two after its opening. A sudden trip for an unexpected funeral. I guess most funerals are more or less unexpected.

Anyway, they hadn't worked out all the kinks yet (besides the baggage system) and shuttle service to Fort Collins ended early in the evening, around 8 PM, just before my arrival. I wound up having to pay over $100 for a one-way car rental to drive the 65 miles.

It took a while, but eventually I grew to think DIA was OK.

Our kids in Greenwood Village say they are going to use it in June for their trip this way.
Back in the days of Stapleton DS lived within a couple of miles!!

They can do it from Greenwood Village but it was be time consuming - probably well over an hour. Now they will have to go downtown, lug their luggage for about three blocks to the platform, and then to the airport. We are in the same boat so are eagerly awaiting the opening of the R line later this year. Till then we have to stick with the Skyride. One of the best parts about the train is that you exit, up the escalator, through the door and right into the security line. Could not be easier or quicker f you have no luggage to check and a boarding pass.

Gretchen, I was in Charlotte the week they open the first short segment of your light rail. Charlotte has a ways to go. I think the big difference between Charlotte and Denver with regard to light rail development is obtaining right-of-ways. Denver was a major railway hub a hundred years ago so the are old railraod right-of-way running both north and south through the city. The first line opened ran along an existing railroad. That make it a lot easier and cheaper to build. The W line ran on an abandoned rail bed and the airport line runs about half its distance along side the Union Pacific. E&H were added Greenwood Village area) at the same time CDOT was rehabing the I-25 corridor. So, relatively speaking, they could build it at a reasonable cost.

The big snag for getting to Boulder was the high costs of buying right-of-way. It became so cost prohibitive that RTD voted for a rapid bus system. That did not go down well with the Boulder community and communities along that stretch. You know - Broken promises. I think Charlotte will have similar problems. But the system is developing nicely in Denver.

You are right about the rights of way--plus the backward city folk who think cars are the ONLY thing to get from A to B!! Take a look at our bathroom bill for the "forward thinkers" of our guv-mint here!! not LOL!!!

Gretchen -- I still have good friends and serve on a foundation board located in Charlotte. Fortunately we have most of the board meetings in Atlanta. Easier to get to.

You should consider moving to Denver. The weather is much different and so is the political climate. Just in a new hotel and noticed that all of the restrooms are multi-sex. Instead of having a large, separate,common men and women restrooms, there is a short hall with five or six doors on either side and each room is a single toilet and wash basin and a sign on the door showing both male and female figures. I guess that solves the problem.

MCI has always referred to Mid-Continent International

Oh, couldn't leave NC even with all its current political warts--the pendulum WILL swing!!
But the first time I saw colorado and before we had our kids there I said if I can't live in NC I want to live in CO!! Do love it.
This bill will be declared unconstitutional, not because of the bathroom part but because of the other 90% which is so clearly discriminatory it is ignorant that it was ever written. (not stupid--you can help "stupid")

The new A-line is a great addition to Denver. It's always been expensive for travelers to get downtown from DIA.

I think we call it DIA, because that's what it was called from Day One, when it was being built. If people who lived here, were saying DEN, it wouldn't make much sense.

The ski train returning is a big bonus for Winter Park, and for drivers to/from other ski areas on I-70. DH volunteered on the ski train, as an 'ambassador', meaning he was there to answer questions about Winter Park. He loved it, because he's always loved trains.