Travel by train (or bus): Denver’s renewed Union Station

Earlier this summer, I had the privilege of travelling with my spouse to California. We started in San Diego (where my partner was attending a conference) and then made our way northwards, to Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Simeon, and finally the San Francisco Bay Area. I continued my trip an extra three days to ride Amtrak’s California Zephyr train east through Nevada and Utah to Denver, Colorado.

Besides the breathtaking scenery through eastern Utah and western Colorado, I wanted to visit Denver itself, including its Union Station.

Denver’s Union Station was constructed in 1881 to serve the Denver Pacific Railway (the city’s connection to the Union Pacific transcontinental railroad at Cheyenne, Wyoming), as well as the Denver & Rio Grande, the Denver, South Park & Pacific and the Colorado Central Railroads. (Today, it is reached by tracks belonging to the Union Pacific or BNSF Railroads.) Renovated and expanded in 1914, one of the station’s most iconic features, rooftop neon signs beckoning customers to “Travel by train” were added in the 1950s, as interstate highways were being planned and constructed across the United States and air travel became more common.

The station was nearly closed in the 1980s with only Amtrak’s Oakland-Chicago California Zephyr calling once a day in each direction. Passenger train facilities would have been moved to a small “Amshack” building outside of the downtown core, with the station building incorporated into a proposed new convention centre. (This proposal is similar to the fate of St. Louis’ Union Station, which was turned into a hotel, shopping, and entertainment centre, with the Amtrak station moved into a small building off-site.) Luckily, this never took place.

Denver’s Regional Transit District (RTD) purchased the station in 2001, with a new master plan developed for the station property and the vicinity in 2002, approved by voters in 2004 as part of the “FasTracks” program. Denver’s light rail system was extended to Union Station in 2002, while the immediate area was redeveloped with midrise apartment and office buildings. The train platforms were rebuilt with a new canopy, meant to accommodate both Amtrak and proposed new commuter and regional rail services.

Connecting the historic Union Station building and train platforms with the LRT platforms two blocks north is a long underground bus concourse.

The underground bus terminal serves local and regional RTD services, as well as Bustang, the State of Colorado’s intercity coach service. Bustang offers multiple daily bus services to cities such as Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, and Pueblo, connecting most of the state together. There are also seasonal ski buses from Denver, along with special runs for Denver Bronco games.

There are also two free RTD bus services connecting Union Station with the rest of Denver’s downtown core: MallRide, a frequent, daily service along the 16th Avenue pedestrian mall (which was undergoing reconstruction in July 2024, and was on detour), and MetroRide, which operates during daytime hours on a parallel route.

Union Station now hosts a boutique hotel, several restaurants and bars, a branch of a local bookshop chain, and includes amenities such as public art and a splash fountain outside its main entrance. Though the main lobby was undergoing minor renovations, it was clear how much work went into the project.

Take the A-Train

Like Toronto’s Union Station, Denver offers an airport rail link, operating every 15 minutes most of the day. The electric A-Line train runs from Union Station, making 7 intermediate stops. With the exception of the airport itself, the A-Line operates within the regular RTD fare zone, with free transfers between connecting buses and trains.

To enter or exit the airport station itself, occasional travelers must purchase a special $10 day pass (a standard day pass is $5.50), but that, of course, includes all rides taken before or after arriving at or departing from the airport. (By contrast, there are no transfers or fare discounts when connecting between UP Express and GO Transit, TTC, or suburban transit services.)

Because of the additional stops and the long distance between Downtown Denver and the international airport (25 miles or 40 kilometres), the trip takes 37 minutes versus UP Express’ 25 minutes.

Unfortunately, most RTD rail services, like the A-Line, follow existing or abandoned rail corridors. Though these routes offer limited obstructions to construction and allow for faster service than operating within roadways, they limit how much ridership can be generated by walk-on service. Even the Downtown Littleton station on the D-Line is distant from any commercial or residential uses, with a large commuter parking lot behind the historic station building.

At least many RTD stations offer convenient bus transfers, which draw much of the ridership.

A lot was done right at Denver Union Station, which is well served by local, state, and national rail and bus connections, and is serves well as a model for developing a good intermodal hub in a midsized city like Denver. There are certainly aspects that could be replicated at some GO Transit stations, such as Brampton, Port Credit, or Unionville, which are poised to become important intermodal hubs, such as great public spaces, easy connections between nodes, and complementary retail spaces. At Brampton in particular, much can be done with the small historic station building there to make it a centrepiece of a great downtown redevelopment.

I am glad I visited Denver, and I am glad to have travelled by train.