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In This Issue: |
VIA Rail Canada Unveils New Website
VIA Rail Canada unveiled their new
website in June. If you haven't already done so, be sure to check
out this great new easy to use site.
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Our train of the month is the popular California Zephyr. The train is well known to rail passengers from around the world who plan their summer excursions around a train trip and it is currently the only Amtrak long distance passenger train that serves Denver, Colorado with connecting bus service to nearby Rocky Mountain Front Range cities. It stops at Denver Union Station in the morning on its westbound journey to the San Francisco Bay area and in the evening on its eastbound return to Chicago. Click on the link below to go to the Rail Passenger USA Home Page for this train.
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| San Francisco | -- California Zephyr Route -- | Chicago |
To access our California Zephyr Pages click - California Zephyr Home Page
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Denver, Colorado - Union Station Update
Those folks who have traveled through Denver on the California Zephyr are familiar with the 30-60 minute maintenance stop and crew change point at Denver's Union Station. This storied Denver monument is located at the foot of 17th Street in Lower Downtown Denver (LODO), roughly 1,000 miles west of Chicago's Union Station and 1,400 miles east of San Francisco Bay Area terminal at Emeryville. It's a great place on the two day, two night journey to hop off the train, stretch your legs, get a taste of the station's history and a quick impression of historic LODO.
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Union Station Today and Yesterday
If you've deboarded in Denver recently you were probably a little disappointed in the conveniences provided there. You can purchase a newspaper out front, pick up some junk food or soda from the vending machines tucked back by the rest rooms, or just walk around and take photos. There's a ticket office, a ticket machine, and a baggage office. The traditional benches on which millions of rail passengers have rested over the years are still there, and the reading lights mounted above the benches still function, but it's a far cry from what Union Station once was, or what it may soon become.
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The Future
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Plans for
renovating Denver's Union Station have been underway since May 2002
when the Denver Union Station Project team was initiated to develop a
Master Plan and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for
redeveloping Union Station and the surrounding area. The site has been
the property of the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) since
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The project action increased considerably in late 2008 and has continued this year. The Final EIS document was submitted to the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) to submit to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA published a Notice of Availability of the Final EIS for public review in the Federal Register on August 15, 2008, which initiated a 45-day review period. A public hearing was held on September 10, 2008.
On October 17, 2008 the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) signed the Denver Union Station Record of Decision (ROD) which confirms that construction of the proposed arrangement of transit improvements can proceed. The ROD includes the light rail, passenger rail and regional bus facilities as well as associated site improvements. According to Union Station Advocates' May 2009 News Update, construction was scheduled to proceed in early June 2009 with the excavation of the area between the new Light Rail Terminal to the northwest of the station and main Union Station building. However, construction had not yet started as of the time of publication of this newsletter.
Features
The best place to read about the details of this multifaceted Project is in the Final Environmental Impact Statement that may be downloaded in its entirety from the Environmental Impact Statement pages of the Denver Union Station Website. A few extracted photos are provided below to give you an idea of the scope of the Project.
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Roadblock
What appears to be a major roadblock to the start of construction is a Federal lawsuit filed on May 18, 2009 in Colorado Federal District Court (Judge John L. Kane, Case Number 1:2009cv01135) by the Colorado Rail Passenger's Association "ColoRail" v. the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
As reported by thedenverdailynews.com in their May 19, 2009 article entitled Station plan draws suit, "A passenger rail advocacy group filed a lawsuit yesterday to halt the estimated $478 million redevelopment of Union Station. It might seem odd that the Colorado Rail Passenger Association (ColoRail) would file a lawsuit that would halt redevelopment of Union Station — which at the heart of the redevelopment focuses on improving multi-modal transit — but the passenger rail advocates say the current plan is 'arbitrary and capricious'.”
To read the list of concerns posted by ColoRail on their website, click on COLORAIL CONCERNS WITH THE CURRENT DENVER UNION STATION PLAN
Stay Tuned
Rail Passenger USA will continue
to follow the Union Station Project and keep you up to date on developments as they break.
If you'd like to voice your opinion or if you have some breaking news to share please contact
us
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Happy Rails to You!
Ray York
Rail Passenger USA
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Rail Passenger USA is a free website founded by Ramblin' Ray, an old train travel addict who devotes most of his time to mapping USA passenger railroad routes and preparing route guides to share with others via his website.
