RTD threatens end of contract
RTD this week turned up the heat on its dispute with its partner overseeing the construction and operation of the metro area’s commuter rail system, warning Denver Transit Partners that its inability to open the GLine to the western suburbs for passenger service constitutes a “termination event.”
In a notice the Regional Transportation District sent to Denver Transit Partners on Tuesday, but not released publicly until Wednesday, the transit agency warned DTP that it has 30 days to “remedy the breaches” or 20 days to “propose a remedial plan to cure the breaches” that it says has led to the delays.
RTD did not say in its notice that it will definitely terminate its $2.2 billion contract with DTP if the concessionaire doesn’t make the necessary fixes in the time allotted, but it said DTP’s “performance is unacceptable to RTD.”
RTD argues in its “Notice of Concessionaire Termination Event” that all three commuter rail lines — the University of Colorado ALine between Denver Union Station and the airport, the BLine to Westminster and the yettoopen GLine to Arvada and Wheat Ridge — should have been up and running by June 2 according to the contract both entities signed in 2010.
The 23mile ALine opened in April 2016, and the shorter BLine launched service three months later. But the safety gates on multiple crossings on the ALine were beset with timing issues caused by difficulties trying to integrate a novel wireless signaling system with federally mandated positive train control technology.
The ALine and BLine were able to operate under a waiver from the Federal Railroad Administration but the GLine remained closed to passenger service until the crossing gate issues on the other two lines were resolved. It was supposed to launch revenue service two years ago.
RTD’s action this week follows a lawsuit that DTP filed against the transit agency last month.
In the lawsuit, DTP argued that it should be reimbursed penalties it incurred and should be paid back tens of millions of dollars it has spent on crossing gate attendants who were required to stand duty while the software issues at the crossings were addressed.
DTP said regulators changed the regulations and requirements at rail crossings and that its contract with RTD protects it from having to assume costs associated with changes in law.
John Thompson, execu tive project director and CEO of Denver Transit Partners, told The Denver Post in an interview Wednesday that the notice of termination it received is “not typical,” but he expressed confidence that DTP and RTD would be able to work out the problems.
“It shouldn’t deflect us from our prime task of running a good train service and getting the GLine into service,” he said. “We’re here for the long term, and we’re here to serve.”
Thompson called the termination notice a “contractual mechanism” that likely was exercised in response to Denver Transit Partner’s Sept. 20 lawsuit.
He didn’t say when he thought the GLine would open for service or when flaggers who were put back on 24houraday duty on several ALine crossings in August would be relieved of duty.
No progress on establishing quiet zones, which would obviate the need for trains to blow their horns every time they approach a crossing, can be made until RTD and DTP fix the gate timing issues.