ARVADA, Colo. — The commuter rail line between Wheat Ridge and Denver finally has an opening date.
The G Line will open on April 26, following more than two years of delays, RTD announced Monday morning.
The line, which was originally scheduled to open in fall 2016, will connect Union Station and Wheat Ridge with a stop through Olde Town Arvada.
The opening was delayed after the A Line between Denver International Airport and Union Station ran into problems with a new technology called “positive train control,” which uses GPS location and wireless signals to operate the crossing gates where the rail line crosses roads.
Since the G Line uses the exact same system as the A Line, the Federal Railroad Administration blocked it from opening. That restriction was lifted in 2018, but federal regulators needed to certify that the crossings were up to standard and did not require flaggers.
In addition, the FRA needed to approve quiet zones for the entirety of the line. This is in contrast to the A Line, where horns blared at the crossings for years until the quiet zones finally went into effect on March 1 of this year.
Unlike the train to the plane, the so-called “train to the grain” runs through an almost entirely residential area, making quiet zones more of a necessity.
The G Line is 11.2 miles long. The westernmost station is at Wheat Ridge and Ward Road, and six stops later, it ends at Union Station.
Like with other rail openings, the G Line will be free on its first day.
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