Simulation shows the FasTracks East Corridor commuter rail station planned to adjoin the DIA terminal's south side.

Officials from Denver International Airport and RTD gathered Friday to mark the federal government’s approval this month of two environmental studies that keep crucial FasTracks corridors on the path toward $1 billion in grants.

Environmental Impact Statements for the East Corridor heavy-rail line to DIA from downtown and the companion Gold Line heavy-rail to Arvada and Wheat Ridge both were approved by the Federal Transit Administration.

This allows RTD to proceed with final design, financing and construction. The transit agency in September formally began a procurement process to select a private sector team that would do the work, with selection expected by June.

Phil Washington, RTD's interim general manager

“This milestone speaks volumes to the progress we are seeing on the FasTracks investment initiative,” said Phil Washington, RTD’s Interim General Manager. “This is a great vote of confidence by the Federal Transit Administration that keeps us on track to pursue up to $1 billion in federal funds for FasTracks.”

The Gold Line study took three years and the East Corridor study took more than six years, each absorbing delays along the way as original plans faced changes. Some were due to outside factors, such as freight railroads imposing stricter rules for transit access to their rights of way out of safety concerns. That caused the Gold Line to change from the originally proposed light rail to heavy-rail self-propelled commuter train cars. The East Corridor always had been planned for heavy rail, although light rail was considered at one point in the study before being eliminated.

There are some among the public and media who refer to all FasTracks lines as “light rail,” an incorrect shorthand. Heavy rail commuter cars – electric powered in three corridors and diesel-powered in one – are being used in rights-of-way shared with freight railroads because the passenger vehicles meet federal crash safety standards that light rail cars do not.

Heavy-rail self-propelled electric-powered commuter rail cars, shown in this simulation, are the vehicles chosen for the FasTracks East Corridor and Gold Line projects.

While FasTracks faces a $2.2 billion funding gap for its 2017 completion date, the East Corridor and Gold Line can be fully funded if RTD succeeds in getting two grants totaling $1 billion. RTD has packaged the two project, along with construction of a maintenance facility near 48th Avenue and Fox Street for the larger rail cars, into a single request for proposals from private consortiums interested in financing, designing, building, operating and maintaining the two corridors.

This privatization effort, which RTD has named Eagle P3 for “East, Gold Line Public Private Partnership,” is aimed at reducing the amount of upfront capital funds RTD needs for FasTracks. By bringing in private equity from the bidders, RTD would spread its costs for the DIA and Arvada lines over the course of a 40-year concession agreement with the private operators.

The two projects also have a leg up because they were among only a few chosen two years ago nationwide by the FTA to participate in a federal pilot project to demonstrate the potential savings of privatization, called Penta P. As such, the grant request will get expedited screening and more favorable thresholds for qualifying.

Without the federal grants, RTD says it would only be able to build the DIA line. Until the FTA makes decisions on the grants, RTD has broken the Eagle P3 project into two phases, proceeding with the DIA line first and putting the Gold Line into Phase 2 dependent on the federal grants coming through.

“We are excited to celebrate today’s event with RTD and with representatives from our surrounding communities,” said Kim Day, Manager of Aviation for Denver International Airport. “Having a direct rail link between downtown Denver and the airport is crucial for our passengers and our employees and the addition of FasTracks at DIA will help us stand out as a truly world-class facility.”

Click here to see an RTD fact sheet on the East Corridor.

Click here to see an RTD fact sheet on the Gold Line.

Rendering shows the commuter rail boarding platforms planned for behind Denver Union Station' the light rail platforms are proposed to be being relocated north of here, near the existing freight tracks.