Service is fully restored after a long day of troubles for RTD A and B Lines

DENVER -- Another day of delays, another story for passengers riding the A-Line between Union Station and Denver International Airport.  

Thursday’s issues were due to a damaged power line, according to RTD officials. For more than seven hours, passengers had to be taken by bus from 61^st and Pena Blvd to and/from DIA. 

In addition, the new B Line between Union Station and Westminster faced delays for several hours this afternoon.

Denver7 crunched the numbers.

Since the A Line rail service started on April 22, there have been 27 tweets from RTD concerning delays. Some involve crossing issues, power loss, even a lightning strike.

"At the end of the day, who is responsible for these failures?" asked Denver7 reporter Marc Stewart 

"The buck stops with RTD working with our contractors on this," said Scott Reed, RTD’s assistant general manager for communications. Reed said the system wasn't rushed to service and the testing period was thorough.

"With so much public frustration, what would be the harm of stopping service temporarily until you can do a top to bottom review of all of these issues, so the public doesn't feel let down," asked Stewart.              

"We think it would really be folly to shut down the line given the fact that we have come so close to our on-time performance that we've established for light  rail, for our buses and what not," said Reed.

The big picture? Reed said the system is close to meeting its 90 percent on-time goal, calling these issues isolated incidents. But this is a big deal if you're among the ten percent who has experienced delays.

"Why should someone give you a second chance?” asked Stewart.

“We know that RTD has established a very good performance record over the years. We know the public is aware of that," he said.  "We will get this system to that same level of performance."

Denver7 also reached out to Denver International Airport to get its reaction to the chronic problems.

“The predictability and reliability of the University of Colorado A Line is critically important to our passengers. While there have been some difficulties during the first few months of the train’s operation, the majority of the time the train is running on schedule. We believe that RTD and its private sector partners are doing everything they can to resolve these service disruptions. We remain in close contact with our partners at RTD,” said senior public information officer Heath Montgomery