b'PASSENGER TRANSPORTDEN41and both airports rely extensively on trainespecially in the middle of a summer day when youre on the systems. They even use the same type oftrain with 40 or 50 of your closest friends. It just wasnt a great cars and signaling systems from Alstom.experience. Atlantas airport has a system that isBeyond the upgraded HVAC system, Robb reports that the very similar to ours; its almost identical,overall ambiance inside the cars is much improved. When the airport says Matthew Robb, senior vice presidentpartnered with United Airlines in December on its fantasy flight of Technical Operations at DEN. Theprogram for kids with special needs, system operators changed the difference is that with our system, we haveMATTHEW ROBB lighting to holiday colors, much to the childrens delight.switches that enable us to run upwards of 40 unique operational modes, which helps us while were troubleshooting an issue orInstallation and Maintenance conducting overnight maintenance. And, of course, the AtlantaAlstom staffs three maintenance shifts 24 airport has a walking tunnel that enables access to all sevenhours a day, seven days a week at DEN. concourses.Project Manager Orisay Lameda, who originally started with Bombardier 30 years Improving the Passenger Experienceago, actively participated in the planning and The first train cars at DEN were CX100s from AEG Westinghouse.installation phases to help facilitate as the old After more than two decades of service, they began showingcars were swapped out.ORISAY LAMEDAsome wear and tear. The oldest, after all, had logged more thanDenver has a complex airport, Lameda says. Its very busy 1.6 million miles. Robb reports that reliability was still surprisinglyand its hard to introduce a new car without impacting customer good, but it was starting to take a hit. For example, the couplersservice. We worked with the airport to achieve seamless that connect the train cars were becoming problematic, causingintegration and had only two scheduled shutdowns as part of our ghost codes that cost crews time and energy to investigate. Onnormal testing procedure. top of that, it was becoming more difficult to source replacement components.For each replacement, Alstom ships the new car one week in advance via trailer truck. After the cars four-day journey, it waits Along the way, the maintenance team performed routinein a parking lot at DEN while its older counterpart is pulled from inspections and minor service on every car every other day. Andthe people mover system and sent to the scrapyard for recycling. just as automobile drivers do every 5,000 miles or so, DEN sentAs part of the decommissioning process, the airport salvages all its train cars to the shop every 7,000 miles for routine preventativeparts needed to support its fleet of CX100s still in operation. DEN maintenance. Over time, however, the interval between significanthas also taken the initiative to sell parts to other airports. Houston repairs began shrinking, a telltale indication of wear.Airport System, for instance, has purchased two couplers for its While the CX100s were starting to show their age, I reallyown aging CX100 cars.cant say enough about the Alstom operations and maintenanceMeanwhile, the product production team starts the team here in Denver, because theyve done an outstanding job ofcommissioning process for the new car with additional testing. On keeping those things running, Robb says. Historicallyeven lastsite, Alstoms local maintenance team coordinates the installation, yearour availability was well north of 99.7%, which other airportsincluding a full inspection with the DEN Fire Department for would love to have. Were happy to see these new cars come incertification. Its that kind of attention to detail, along with a and provide us even more reliability. And the CX100s, thanks tostringent maintenance agreement, that has resulted in long life for our maintenance team, have continued to perform fairly well.the previous generation of train cars, notes Robb. With its new set of cars, DEN is the first airport in the UnitedWe entered a new operations and maintenance agreement States to operate Alstoms replacement model, the 300R.with Alstom at the beginning of this year, and the minimum uptime Boasting that new car smell and enhanced customer features, therequirement is 99.86%. Thats really setting the benchmark for the 300R has LED lighting and new dynamic screens inside that allow the airport to post information and marketing messages more effectively. In the older cars, personnel have to switch out paper signage. More important is an upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system that significantly improves passenger comfort. The cooling, specifically, is a huge improvement over what we saw in our CX100 vehicles, Robb reports. In fact, thats one of the biggest complaints wevePlanningDELTA AIRPORT Engineeringheard from our customers about the CX100s. As theseCONSULTANTS, INC. Environmentalcars age and the HVAC systems became less andIndustry Analysiswww.deltaairport.com Program Managementless effective, the vehicles would run exceptionally hot, Construction AdministrationBusiness & Financial PlanningAirportImprovement.comMarch | April 2025'