Trains connecting terminals at Denver Airport have broken again, creating mayhem for passengers trying to reach their flights.
Chaos Returns To Denver International Airport After Trains Break Down (Again)
Denver International Airport has an underground rail system that connects passenger terminals. There is no alternate way to easily travel from the security checkpoint in the Jeppesen Terminal to Terminals A, B, and C.
The train system has been an operational nightmare in recent weeks with frequent breakdowns that have trapped passengers and even forced TSA screeners to halt screening due to the inability to transport them from the checkpoint to the passenger gates. Even a slowdown in train service quickly creates gaggles of thousands of people.
Ironically, it was only yesterday that the airport held a ribbon butting for its latest-generation passenger train car:
https://twitter.com/DENAirport/status/1808251843031572559
But today, the system is down again. Look at this picture of the crowds tweeted by JonNYC taken this morning:
https://twitter.com/xJonNYC/status/1808544223769031017
The airport’s response? Come visit the dogs…
https://twitter.com/DENAirport/status/1808508572067647940
(no mention of today’s train collapse on social media…)
DEN is home to United Airlines’ Rocky Mountain hub and as the largest operator at the airport, United has the most to lose from these frequent breakdowns. We’ve asked United how what it is doing to encourage the trains to run on-time and will report back with the response.
If you need to avoid the train, you can go through security using the “A bridge” and then walk to Terminal A and catch a bus to Terminal B. That’s a long walk…a really long one…but probably a better choice right now than being trapped on a train platform.
CONCLUSION
How frustrating to be caught at the airport unable to make your flight because the train system broke down. This is a problem that has been festering for months and is wholly unacceptable during the busy summer travel season.
I’m not a mechanic, but Washington Dulles International or Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airports have a similar train system without the constant headlines of the trains breaking down. It’s already too late for a fix, but a fix is needed…urgently.
image: xJonNYC / X
Nice to see the sitution resolved for now, but this is so unacceptable in its frequency:
Is it possible to walk from Terminal A to B without taking a train or bus? I can’t stand that train.
Not possible.
Stupid design. Should have a backup walkway, like Atlanta.
Just go to Cheyenne . Problem solved .
I didn’t know that you could fly to Cheyenne to hundreds of destinations around the country…
In a way, you can. You take a United Express hop from CYS to DEN (a short flight), then you’re past security and ready to connect. It’s a viable option if you live up that way. Or COS is another (for those to the south). Because the TSA lines at DEN are so awful, it’s actually worth eschewing a nonstop for such a connection to avoid those crowds.
Then you come in to the UA Express gates on the end of B and have a connection from A you can’t get to.
Ugh!
West security opened up and the experience is so much smoother and faster. I agree about the other security checkpoints… yikes.
Cheyenne is the nation’s hub .
Shows what happens when they pick the lowest bidder and require US built train cars. Result is no name companies that hire based upon political connections.
Petra,Kiki and Maverick provided emotional support to the thousands of delayed pax.
That’s why I don’t mind spread out or “walk through the shopping mall” airports so long as I can walk terminal to terminal. Even the train to C/D at Dulles is a pain (partly because they built it under the location of a future terminal still a decade away). Much better when I just walk to A/B.
Same day as Heathrow Express and Lizzie (Elizabeth) Line were closed sending people to buses or Piccadilly. Not a great day for airports with giant land mass.
Aren’t Denver’s Security lines much better now with the new Bridge security? I rarely waited longer than a couple of minutes lately. That was… Of course… With working trains.
I fly out of DEN a lot and have become paranoid I’m going to be caught in one of these nightmares.
DEN is probably the worst airport in the US. There is absolutely nothing to like about it.
What type of kink involves “a ribbon butting”?
What idiot in the modern era designs an airport where you can’t walk between any two gates?
Even when the trains are working..it can be a Zoo with the crowds at TSA even at 4:30am!!!
Awful. Another airport to avoid. Considering the ORD nightmare, maybe Houston is the best hub for UA travelers going to Europe from the central US.