Denver’s new rail line will link the airport with Union Station. (Map: Denver RTD)
The long-planned rail link between Denver International Airport and Union Station in downtown Denver passed a milestone last week when rail cars pulled into the airport station for the first time.
The Regional Transportation District’s electric-powered East Rail Line will now undergo an extended series of tests before the trains start carrying passengers in 2016.
Inbound passengers who take the train downtown will be able to connect at the newly refurbished Union Station to local light-rail lines, Amtrak trains and regional bus lines.
That’s not the only big project at Denver’s airport.
Rendering of the new Westin hotel at Denver International Airport (Starwood)
Anyone who’s passed through lately might have noticed a big new building that looks like a giant moustache at one end of the main terminal.
That’s a new 519-room Westin hotel, due to open in November 2015.
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That probably kills DIA. The reason Hawaiian is always #1 in on time is HNL almost never has a weather event. If Hawaiian upgraded its business / first class product to flat-beds it has the potential to be a Pacific super-connector. Its back of bus & food service is already competitive with Asian carriers.
Yes, DIA has all this potential … but it has become renown for terrible winter delays rivaling or exceeding that seen at ORD (one colleague was among those stranded for 3 days, connecting from PDX, making it home to the UK just in time on Christmas morning).
DIA has more potential as a US “super-hub” than any other airport. It has the largest land footprint (most of it unused today) of any airport making its growth potential almost as limitless as Dubai. The facilities are new. It is not in congested airspace. It has world-class fixed de-icing facilities (not the silly trucks). A hotel and rail-link complete the infrastructure needed. The question is whether any U.S. carrier will take up the challenge. United is the incumbent at DIA – could it replace Chicago or Houston as a hub (but both of which can continue to be major destinations), both of which are congested and both of which have significant weather delays in winter and summer respectively. More likely: an existing or new low cost longhaul airline in the mold of Norwegian.