The first phase of Denver's Eagle PPP commuter rail project was completed on April 22, 2016, when the Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock inaugurated the 23.5-mile University of Colorado A Line from Union Station to Denver International Airport.
The double-track line, which is electrified at 25kV 60Hz AC, includes seven new stations serving western districts of the city.
To celebrate the opening, Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) offered free travel on April 22 and 23 across its entire rail network.
In addition to the A Line, the Eagle PPP includes the construction of the 11-mile G Line from Union Station to Ward Road in Wheat Ridge, the six-mile B Line from Union Station to Westminster, and a new depot at Fox Street north of Union Station. The two remaining lines are due to open next year.
The project is being implemented by PPP contractor Denver Transit Partners, a consortium of John Laing, Fluor, and Aberdeen Asset Management, under a $2.2 billion 34-year design-build-operate-maintain (DBOM) concession awarded by RTD.
The project is being finaced with the aid of a $1.03 billion Full Funding Grant Agreement from the Federal Transit Administration and $450 million from the private sector.
Services are operated by 79-mph Silverliner V EMU cars supplied by Hyundai-Rotem. Each car accommodates up to 232 passengers, 91 of them seated, with two wheelchair spaces. The vehicles are being assembled at the Hyundai Rotem USA plant in Philadelphia, using bodyshells fabricated in Korea. They are virtually identical to the Silverliner V cars Hyundai-Rotem supplied to SEPTA.