Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) and commuter rail concessionaire Denver Transit Partners (DTP) marked a milestone, with ridership reaching 20 million passengers on the University of Colorado A Line. RTD’s first commuter rail line has covered more than eight million miles between downtown Denver and Denver International Airport since it began carrying the public in April 2016.

The popularity of the University of Colorado A Line has consistently exceeded projections since opening three years ago, with the line carrying an average of 20,600 weekday passengers this year through March. Ridership has grown steadily since it opened, and in January RTD introduced four-car trains to the corridor a full year ahead of schedule, doubling capacity on the rail line to accommodate the increasing volume of passengers.

As RTD celebrates 50 years of service, the University of Colorado A Line has become an important part of transportation history. It is the first of three rail lines within the transit industry’s first successful public-private partnership (P3), as well as the first rail line to have federally required positive train control (PTC) technology implemented from the ground up.

RTD continues to be a trailblazer, with the broader industry looking toward Denver to learn from the transit agency’s groundbreaking projects and initiatives.

The federally funded Eagle P3 commuter rail project has had a substantial effect on the metro Denver region’s economy, with more than $2 billion in direct economic impact (e.g., building and staffing) and more than $8 billion in indirect impact.

The University of Colorado A Line has a strong record of safety and reliability, as well as an on-time performance record this year to date of 92.4%.