DIA to Winter Park on Public Transportation? - by Ron Owens

RTD - Denver, the quasi governmental transportation agency for the Metro Denver region, announced in June, 2010 that the money to build the light rail line between Denver International Airport (DIA) and the downtown railway center,Union Station, has been secured. This means that construction of the 24 mile rail line will begin no later than early 2011. It's scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014, some eleven months earlier than the original deadline of January, 2016. The trains will be diesel powered rather than electric. Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the railroad right of way that the DIA train will follow, strongly objected to the use of lighter electric cars over the heavier diesel cars. They voiced safety concerns in the event of a collision between their heavy freight trains and the lighter electric RTD passenger trains. The budget for the DIA commuter line is projected to cost between $700 million and One Billion dollars and will create some 5,000 new jobs. Discussions are on-going as to how many stations the line will have between DIA and Union Station. Each station not only adds to the over-all cost of the project but also adds to the time the train will take between the airport and downtown Denver. All this makes it more vital than ever that the Winter Park Ski Train gets up and running again soon. Why? Because when the Ski Train is operating it will be possible for skiers to fly into DIA, ride RTD light rail to Union Station; then, hop on the ski train and ride to the base of Winter Park Resort! We will be the only major ski resort in North America that you can get to from the international airport to the base of the resort, on public transportation!!! Think what that can do for the values of our real estate