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RTD is set to lengthen seven more light rail station platforms to accommodate longer four-car trains, with a $2.26 million contract to a Longmont company.

The extensions will allow the transit agency to add capacity to each trip, as needed, now that it has started to take delivery of the first of 55 new light rail cars as part of the FasTracks program. The project is funded with federal stimulus program money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Four of the five bids came in under the agency’s estimated budget.

The seven stations included in the work are Mineral. Littleton Downtown, Oxford City of Sheridan, Englewood, Evans, Invesco Field at Mile High and Pepsi Center. They are on the Southwest Corridor and Central Platte Valley spur that serves Union Station. The work is scheduled to be completed in early 2011, and is the second phase of the project to upgrade the length of station platforms. The T-REX corridor and RTD’s original Central Corridor stations were lengthened in earlier contracts.

When this contract is done, only one station in the system will be incapable of handling four-car trains – the Auraria West Station on the Central Platte Valley spur. The reason it’s left out is that it is being replaced within the next four years with a new station just to the west, on the west side of Fifth Street, as part of a realignment of the tracks to accommodate the new junction for the West Corridor light rail. That corridor from Auraria to Golden through Lakewood and Denver is now under construction.

To accommodate a consist of four light rail cars, a platform needs at least 320 feet of straight track. That length wouldn’t have been available at the Auraria West station, which is located between Fifth Street and a curve in the track to the east. But by relocating the station, RTD can have the new station serve both the Central Platte Valley spur and the West Corridor.

The contract went to Krische Construction of Longmont, which had an earlier contract to lengthen the station platforms at Colfax at Auraria, 10th and Osage, Alameda, and 20th and Welton.

The contract amount is $737,000 under the engineer’s estimate of $3 million. Four of the five bids RTD received in July were below the estimate. Krische was not the lowest bidder, but RTD rejected the $1.45 million bid of TC2 Construction of Evergreen, saying it was not in compliance with the agency’s goal of 12 percent participation by disadvantaged business enterprises.

Krische exceeded the goal with proposed DBE participation of 16.85 percent.

The construction contract covers only the civil constriction and track work. RTD plans to issue another contract later for signalization and electrical upgrades necessary to run the four-car trains.