Denver, CO – Fluor Corporation announced on Monday, July 25th, that the Denver Eagle P3 Commuter Rail Project completed and opened the six-mile B Line from Denver’s Downtown Union Station to Westminster Station located in the growing Denver-Boulder corridor. This milestone marks the second major commuter rail line opening on the public-private partnership (P3) project this year for the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD), following the April 2016 opening of the University of Colorado A Line serving downtown Denver and Denver International Airport.
The new B Line transports riders from the historic center of Westminster to the dynamic Union Station Transit Center where they can connect to the C, E, and W light rail lines, the new University of Colorado A Line to Denver International Airport, as well as local and regional buses.
The B Line will run every half an hour during peak times and every hour during off-peak times. This new electrified line serves the northwest region of the Denver-metro area and marks the first phase of Denver RTD’s plan to eventually build an extension between Westminster and Longmont when funding becomes available. Westminster Station has 350 parking spaces and 20 bike lockers to encourage carpooling and to accommodate alternative modes of transportation.
Using the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain model Denver Transit Partners, a Fluor-led joint venture, will also operate and maintain the B Line along with the University of Colorado A Line, G Line and the LEED Gold-certified Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility for the next 28 years under contract to Denver RTD.
“The B Line opening is an outstanding milestone for the Denver metro region as it increases mobility and transit access for commuters linking downtown to the Westminster area,” said Aaron Epstein, executive project director and CEO of Denver Transit Partners. “The Fluor-led joint venture and our partners worked as one team with RTD to advance this project and use our integrated and innovative solutions approach to deliver the B Line.”
The Eagle P3 project is a public-private partnership that was awarded by Denver’s RTD to the Fluor-led joint venture of Denver Transit Partners (DTP). DTP is comprised of a partnership between Fluor; Denver Rail (Eagle) Holdings, Inc., a unit of John Laing plc; and Aberdeen Infrastructure Investments (No. 4) USA LLC, a unit of Aberdeen Global Infrastructure Partners LP. Other team members include Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc., Alternative Concepts Inc., Ames Construction, Hyundai Rotem and HDR.
The Eagle P3 project is part of the RTD’s voter-approved FasTracks program to build 122 miles of commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and redirect bus service to better connect the eight-county district.
Photo courtesy of Fluor Corporation