Global supply-chain delays are the latest factor wreaking havoc with Denver International Airport’s plans to expand the capacity of the underground train system that links its terminal and concourses.
DIA confirmed Thursday that 26 new train cars originally slated for delivery beginning in early 2021 — both to replace old cars and expand the system — now won’t arrive until next year.
The Automated Guideway Transit System has grown more crowded during DIA’s fast pandemic recovery, and by the end of the year, the last of 39 new gates are expected to be finished on the three concourses. Those new gates will only increase passenger use of the train system over time.
“This delay was not welcome news,” airport CEO Phil Washington said in a news release. “We are aware of the issues that our aging train cars are having and our crews are doing the best they can to keep these cars and associated systems in working condition for the comfort of passengers.”
The 27-year-old airport’s train system has 31 cars. DIA plans to use 16 new cars to replace those that are past-due for retirement, while the remaining 10 will expand the system’s capacity. That will mean running an extra four-car train initially, with the eventual use of longer trains enabled by the newer cars’ design.
DIA’s release says the cars will come in batches between February and October 2023.
The growing airport gained some breathing room from the pandemic interruption to air travel as well as from a recent mishap — a December pipe break that flooded the nearly completed expansion on the east end of Concourse B with hot water. DIA says that break caused roughly $50 million in damage and delayed that project’s opening by at least eight months. United Airlines has leased the 10 new gates in that addition.
But pressure has increased as DIA has recovered nearly to pre-pandemic passenger traffic levels. The pandemic and its effects on the economy caused earlier delays for the new train cars, pushing back the first deliveries to May 2022. Then, in recent months, airport officials told Denver City Council members that even further delays were likely.
The council approved the nearly $79 million order with Bombardier Transportation in July 2018. Though DIA officials initially had hoped in announcing their plans that new cars might arrive by 2020, the manufacturer’s contract schedule specified that the first batch of cars would be ready for service by early 2021, with the final set arriving in mid-2022.
Though Concourse A can be accessed from the terminal without taking the train, it’s the only way for passengers to reach concourses B and C, making it the most vulnerable component of the airport’s design. Breakdowns are rare, but one in August caused hours of delay and missed flights for passengers.
DIA, which previously has rejected plans to build a long pedestrian tunnel as backup, last fall solicited private-sector ideas to provide “alternative methods” of moving passengers between the terminal and concourses. The airport says it is reviewing 18 submissions, which haven’t been released publicly.
