#denver rtd

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

you have my express permission to infodump to me about literally anything at literally any time

Yay (although I really should be going to bed)

So most modern railroad Electrification is done with 25 Kilovolts 50 Hertz (or 60 Hertz in the US, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and Japan) AC

But grid frequency Electrification at such high voltages was only feasible starting in the 1950s before then you had to use either DC Electrification at lower Voltages, or go with semi-high voltage Electrification at sub-grid frequency (25 Hertz in the US 16.7 Hertz in Europe) and most of the world went with DC usually either 1500 Volts (as used in Japan, Australia, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Indonesia) or 3000 Volts (as used in the Soviet Union, South Africa, Italy, Poland, Spain, Belgium, and Parts of Brazil and two railroads in the US), basically all modern Electrification is done with AC bit sone countries continued to Use DC power and 1500 Volts DC has become standard for modern subway systems

But the standardization of 25,000 Volts AC was mainly due to high speed rail, which requires high voltage AC power and has since become the dominant Electrification system and has been adopted as standard in the UK, India, China, Australia, France, New Zealand, South Africa, former Soviet countries, Mexico, South Korea, Denmark, Serbia, Portugal, Egypt, Czechia, and even for New mainline rail Electrification in the US and Canada (which right now is mainly the NJ Transit modernization of the Lackawanna electric lines, the New Haven to Boston Electrification, Denver's Suburban Rail, Caltrain Electrification, and soon Brightline West, CAHSR, and GO Transit)

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

Denver is cool they have Electric trains

The Train is a majestic Beast that desires nothing but to help mankind. Let her help you. Buy a train ticket to Denver today!

[mermazeablaze]

I didn't attend or even knew "Readers Take Denver" existed until yesterday. I have been watching it explode in real time on Threads. Y'all it's a literary convention that turned into an absolute shitshow. & I find it bizarre that no one on Tumblr is talking about it:

Some Authors & Influencers who were guests had to pay for the privilege.

Authors & Influencers who decided not to attend this year were promoted like they were going to be there. & volunteers & directors made it seem like they were there or going to be there DURING the convention.

Authors & Influencers who were guests were double-booked including their tables & panels.

They didn't receive all the items they were promised including badges, stickers, lanyards & table placards.

Because of the over & double booking of everything - guests & their PAs were verbally assaulted, sometimes including physically, by volunteers & directors.

They had the lights turned off on them.

They had their items thrown off tables & across the room if they didn't move fast enough.

They missed panels they didn't know they were a part of or were thrust into them without knowing they were a part of them.

There were no snacks or water provided to guests.

Volunteers kept attendees from finding or interacting with guests when they were on con floor. & vice versa.

Guests had valuables stolen - cookies, books, purses, etc

During the ball people were sexually harassed & assaulted by people who weren't even part of the con.

Volunteers & directors were going in guest hotel rooms without permission.

Several guests are not coming back & many others who weren't there this year are no longer attending.

Apparently in the FB group moderators aren't allowing in posts disparaging the con.

The con chair was supposed to answer questions in a video chat, but dipped out last second.

Like this was quite literally a clusterfuck to end all clusterfucks.

So if anyone knows or has heard anything let me know. I want to share it with those affected on Threads.

[heathengentleman]

RTD

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

Are any of your Emu's married pair formation?

Cause almost all Multiple Units here are Married Pairs

An introduction to VR multiple units, part 5: Sm6

The Sm6 Allegro. When I started this series about our multiple units, I first thought I would cover the Sm6 in the "operated for others" -series, then thought I would leave it out altogether... but events overtook my plans and now I'm introducing them as VR's own multiple units, although they are not yet in operation as VR trains.

An Sm6 unit on the Kerava-Lahti line, currently the only bit of high-speed rail in Finland, 2011. Teemu Peltonen, Vaunut.org.

Since the 1990s, two daily return trains had been operated between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg, Russia: the Sibelius, which used VR carriages, and the Repin, which used RŽD carriages. In 2006, the two rail operators decided to replace the locomotive-hauled trains, which took five hours to make the trip, with jointly-owned high-speed trains. For this purpose, a new jointly-owned subsidiary Karelian Trains was established.

Two Sm6's during pre-service entry test runs at Vainikkala, the border station between Finland and Russia, with the locomotive-hauled St. Petersburg train Sibelius on the right. Lari Nylund, Vaunut.org.

After a round of tenders, Karelian Trains opted for the Pendolino design (already used by VR in the form of the Sm3) from Alstom in 2007, with four units to be delivered in 2010 (there was also an option for two additional units, which was never taken up). Although the exterior design of the new Sm6 units was almost identical to the Sm3, in terms of technology they feature numerous improvements compared to the older class, and were outfitted to operate both on the Russian and Finnish electric systems. Due to the small difference in gauge between the two countries (Russia uses 1520 mm but Finland 1524 mm) the trains were given near-unique gauge of 1522 mm.

Interior of the Sm6's first-class carriage as delivered. Otto Karikoski, Wikimedia Commons.

Branded Allegro, the new Sm6 units begun operations in December 2010, cutting the travel time between Helsinki and St. Petersburg to 3½ hours. In addition to services offered on Sm3 units, the Sm6 has (or perhaps more accurately had) a space for the border patrol to use, as passport control was done en-route on the train, and a kid's playroom. The original grey-dominated interiors were replaced by new, more colourful blue designs in 2018-2019.

The new interiors were not in use for long before the Covid-19 pandemic caused for passenger train services between Finland and Russia to be suspended in March 2020. The Allegro services were restored in December 2021 (the Helsinki-Moscow sleeper train Tolstoy, however, was not), and ran for less than four months until closed again in March 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (VR subsequently stopped freight traffic to Russia too - other Finnish rail operators continue to serve freight to and from Russia, however).

Second-class carriage in the post-2019 look. VR.

After March 2022, the four Sm6 units languished at VR's Ilmala depot in Helsinki, without maintenance as RŽD refused to make any payments for their share in Karelian Trains (which, although jointly Finnish-Russian owned, was registered in Finland). In March 2023, when Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin visited Kiev, Ukrainian Railroads requested the Sm6 units be handed over to them, but nothing ever came of this. Instead, in December 2023, when Karelian Trains was on the brink of bankruptcy due to RŽD not paying their share of the company's bills, VR bought out Karelian Trains and took over the Sm6 units.

The trains will be given a thorough technical refit, which will include removal of the systems to operate with Russian electrification, and will enter services on routes within Finland in 2025. How they will be branded is unknown, though a VR representative said in an interview they will not be called Allegro. Presumably this will make the Sm6 the first VR rolling stock class to be fully painted in the new livery.

[coochiequeens]

Another story of a poor oppressed translaydee …….. who can cause his women coworkers to be fired if they express concerns over a man in women’s locker rooms and restrooms.

Female employees at Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) have reportedly been given an ultimatum: accept a male co-worker as a woman in the workplace, or be fired. 

Reduxx spoke to a source with access to RTD employees who reports that William Senseman, a locomotive operator at RTD, has been granted access to all workplace spaces previously reserved for women — including bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms. 

Now going by the name “Willow,” Senseman has also taken on she/her pronouns the other staff members are being required to comply with.

The source wishes to remain anonymous due to concerns over professional repercussions for employees close to the situation at RTD, all of whom she claims have been barred from speaking to media under threat of termination. 

Several female workers have reportedly expressed concerns over Senseman’s accommodations, with at least one bringing her complaint directly to management. Upon voicing her discomfort in sharing intimate spaces with a presumably intact man, the employee was told to keep quiet.

“The women at RTD are livid,” the source says. “One complained to supervisors and told them she didn’t feel safe with a man openly walking around women’s safe spaces … and was told she would be fired if she didn’t drop the matter.”

Other staff members were then told that anyone who refused to validate Senseman’s identity, raised concerns about his conduct, or shared information with other staff members or media about the matter would be fired.

“RTD announced that nobody can discuss the situation, either with other employees or the media and all employees MUST refer to the male employee as a woman and call him by his chosen name or risk being fired from their jobs.”

It is not believed that Senseman has undergone any “gender affirming” surgeries, and this may have factored into the complaints raised by female employees.

Discussion regarding Senseman’s transition and its impact on female RTD employees did begin to circulate on Facebook late last month, prompting upset from some women’s rights advocates concerned for the dignity and safety of the female staff.

Senseman abruptly deactivated his personal Facebook account this week after some women took to the platform to leave comments beneath his posts telling him to “stay out” of the female employee spaces.

On December 22, around the same time discussion surrounding Senseman’s access to female spaces began to pick up, RTD re-issued its Equal Employment Opportunities Statement, which promises repercussions for employees found to have been “discriminatory” towards other staff members. 

Reduxx reached out to RTD for comment on the allegations that female workers were being threatened with termination for raising concerns about Senseman, but did not receive a response.

The impact of gender ideology in Colorado has been extensive in recent years, with legislation and policies intended to “affirm” people’s chosen identity creeping through both the private and public sector.

A Coloradan wishing to change the sex reflected on their legal documents need only fill out a short form and pay a nominal filing fee. For adults, no medical documentation is required, and applicants simply self-declare that they are “truthfully” transgender or non-binary. 

For minors, a medical declaration is required for legal changes, but “social transitioning” in Denver public schools can be done even against the wishes of parents or guardians.

UPDATE 1/3/23: RTD’s Senior Manager of Public Relations and Communications has now issued a response to Reduxx following our inquiry on the issues surrounding Senseman’s access to female staff spaces. 

In her statement, Marta Sipeki did not address the allegations that female employees are being threatened with termination for voiding concerns about Senseman, and instead wrote that employees should report any concerns that they may have to the agency’s Employment Opportunity Office.

“RTD strives to create and maintain a community in which all people are treated fairly and with respect,” Sipeki says. 

“RTD has a strong commitment to having a workplace and workforce that reflects the communities we serve. No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, disability, service in the military, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances.” 

[disgruntledlemming]

God the Light Rail situation in Denver has just been an utter debacle. At first I chalked it up to the ice storm we just experienced, I'm used to intense weather causing problems, I can excuse that.

Except I just looked it up and it's not that at all. Well, maybe the weather exacerbated the issue, but the lines were always gonna end just short of Union Station, as it turns out, for federally mandated inspections.

Great! I love my public transit being safe and tested! I'm willing to take a bit of a delay for two days for the peace of mind that the equipment I rely on is safe and reliable.

But how RTD has been handling, at least my rides and situation as someone who takes the N-Line into Denver for work on a regular basis, has been incredibly disappointing. I work in hospitality and I give my most glowing endorsement of RTD and Denver's public transit whenever guests are asking how to get anywhere. I think we do a good job!

My biggest gripe is that, the information on the RTD website is just WRONG. The rail shuttles back up to Western Central Station are NOT where it says they will be, because it's constantly changing between trips! I have been dropped off at gates 5 and 22, and now picked up at gates 8 and 20. The website says my shuttle rail line can be found at Gate 5.

But the RTD employees, who are all working incredibly hard, are just clearly underinformed about what is all going on. Getting on my train around 5:30 AM, we were helpfully informed by the engineer that the line would end at Western Central Station. She did not tell us whether or not further transport could be acquired from there, and when asked, multiple people had to confer before assuring me that there'd be a shuttle to Union Station where I was dropped off at.

I did this twice, and the first time the passengers were given directions to the shuttle. It was a bit of a walk in the rain (this was before it iced over) but otherwise, fine. Even if we did have to cross over a rail that was still sounding for a train approaching when there wasn't one.

The second time we were given no directions, I thankfully remembered from last time. Except, this time, RTD had two vehicles between train and shuttle, to direct us to stand at a nearby bus stop instead of boarding the shuttle directly.

Thus, we spent the ~15 minutes it took them to move the shuttle just standing on a sidewalk covered in black ice, in easy eyesight and walking distance of the shuttle that'd take us into Downtown, but not being allowed to enter. The RTD cars left soon after, but we all kind of just stayed there because we didn't know why we weren't allowed to board it?

Now I'm taking my shuttle back up to Western Central Station, and I'm thankful for the employees who are keeping people like me moving. But the communication was so utterly lacking, and it felt like every time I stepped towards anywhere RTD, the rules were changing on me with no explanation as to why.

I want better funding for public transit because I want public transportation to be robust enough to handle situations like this, if not without disruption, then at least with clear communication!

[ninjakittycomics]

July-august Colorado

Free bus fare/lightrail for July and August. (They site high ozone/pollution during our hottest months, and trying to get ahead of that and make a difference)

I hope they expand this further, so if you can, give them a ride 😸

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

Interesting a Married Pair with a front door

As you can see all these married pair Multiple Units have a door located on the face of each cab to facilitate movement between each unit

Also get some model trains

鉄コレ遠州鉄道2000形入線。

[gallusrostromegalus]

gonna be in denver soon (for a candlelight vigil) and will be spending extra time there to support my cousin, but due to our respective work schedules (I work remote, cousin doesn't) there is plenty of time I'll be free to bop around

any suggestions for an AuDHD queer person that likes absurdity, niche interests, quiet places, and is restricted to mass transit travel options? I am also an outgoing introvert so I like people but only one at a time or in small doses

Uhhhhh ok double check all of these against public transit and if they're still on timed entry but:

- Meow Wolf Denver has always got something cool on

- Denver botanical gardens on York Street are on bus routes and are at their peak rn (best go on a weekday or a day with bad weather

- IDK if the Chatfield botanical gardens are on a reasonable bus route but they're less busy

- Denver art museum and Denver public library are right next to each other and I know they're on bus routes

- every gallery, weird shop and preformer in RiNo on Santa Fe Blvd

- there also the collective at Stapleton which is a ton of niche shops an food stalls and an art gallery at the old Stapleton airport, no ticket needed

- Denver zoo just opened up their Australian exhibit but it tends to be crowded unless you go on a day with bad weather. Which I recommend anyway because the animals are a lot more active when it's raining/stormy out

- Denver Museum of nature and science is right next to the zoo and IDK what their current travelling exhibit is but the permanent exhibits are all A+

-Denver preforming arts center is on RTD, IDK when you're coming but there's always something going on there.

All these places have websites so you can eyeball them and see if they're your thing, pre-purchase your tickets if needed and give you bus route directions.

[northameicanblog]

One Lincoln Park, Denver, Colorado, United States: One Lincoln Park is a residential tower in Denver, reaching 31 stories and 360 feet and is one of Denver’s tallest buildings. The building sits at the edge of the downtown grid and is bounded by Welton St, 20th St, Lincoln St, and 20th Ave. It is at the 20th & Welton station which services RTD’s light rail L Line. Wikipedia

[beardedmrbean]

DENVER — In what could be a national trend, racist, anti-Kamala Harris signs popped up Thursday near multiple bus stops along Colfax Avenue in Denver and in at least one other state.

“I wish I could say I were surprised, but in a year when a Black woman could become POTUS those with hate in their heart are going to coordinate these kinds of atrocious, expensive campaigns to stir division,” Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said in a statement on X.

The first Denver sign was reported around 5 a.m. by a bus driver at a stop near the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Oneida Street, according to a news release from Denver’s Regional Transportation District.

RTD officials said the metal sign was attached to the bus stop’s pole with rivets and appears to have been installed shortly before it was reported.

Around 8:20 a.m. Thursday, one man in Denver’s Congress Park neighborhood spotted two white women putting up another sign at an RTD bus stop near the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Garfield Street.

“It was one of those things where you know something is out of place, but you don’t know what’s going on,” Congress Park resident Greg Bell said.

Bell said he passed the two women — who were carrying a white stepladder and trash bags he believes were holding the signs — as he made his way into a Sprouts on the corner of the intersection to run a quick errand. His receipt was time-stamped for 8:23 a.m.

As he left the store, Bell said he saw the pair setting up the stepladder in front of the bus stop and one woman climbing onto it while holding a white, metal sign.

When Bell saw photos posted on social media later Thursday morning, he said he immediately recognized the building behind the bus stop sign and realized what the women had been doing.

“This is appalling, illegal and hateful,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser wrote in a statement on social media Thursday. “Hate against any of us must be treated as hate against all of us.”

Photos posted by Lewis, the councilwoman, show the signs screwed into the RTD bus stop pole at Colfax Avenue and Garfield Street, outside of National Jewish Health and just west of Colorado Boulevard.

One white sign reads “Blacks must sit at the back of the bus. Kamala’s migrants sit in the front.” Another yellow caution sign on the same pole warns riders of “Kamala’s illegals,” with imagery of people running that is supposed to mimic immigrants crossing the border.

The caution sign is designed after real road signage that used to be posted in California, warning drivers near the San Diego border to watch for migrants running across the freeway. The last of the signs was removed in 2018.

“As a community, we must stand united against hate in all its forms. The recent appearance of racist signs in Denver is deeply troubling and does not reflect the values of our city,” the Denver City Council said in an emailed statement Thursday. “Denver is a place of inclusivity, diversity, and respect, and we will not tolerate messages of division or hate. We stand with all residents in condemning these acts and reaffirm our commitment to building a community where everyone feels safe, valued, and heard.”

As of 10:45 a.m., signs had been found at three RTD bus stops near the intersections of Colfax Avenue and Oneida Street, Colfax Avenue and Yosemite Street and Colfax Avenue and Garfield Street, according to RTD officials.

RTD officials said similar signs had appeared Thursday at Chicago Transit Authority bus stops and that Colorado officials are connecting with other agencies across the county to “assess the magnitude of the coordinated racist activity.”

Shortly before the Legislature ended its property tax-focused special session Thursday, two Denver lawmakers decried the signs from the state House floor, several blocks away from where one of the signs was posted. Several other Democratic lawmakers stood around them, and other legislators stood at their desks, a sign of solidarity in the chamber.

“What I think is important is that we confront our history, and note that if any of us care to say that we have moved forward, that all of us demonstrate that in standing here, undivided, on the declaration that this is hate, and that it’s unacceptable,” said Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat and the House’s assistant majority leader. “I also want to say that we don’t know who put these up. And so we don’t know who’s part of the problem. We know that we cannot continue to allow people to believe that this is acceptable or allow people to believe that they can grow power from posting signs like this.”

RTD officials are working with the Denver Department of Transportation and the Denver Police Department to remove all the reported signs and investigate each of the incidents, according to a Thursday news release.

“RTD strongly condemns the hateful, discriminatory message portrayed by the signs,” transportation officials wrote in the release. “There is no place for racism or discrimination at RTD or within the communities we serve. The signs do not reflect the organization’s adopted values or promote a welcoming transit environment for all, nor should such vile messaging be tolerated or supported by anyone.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kayla Gogarty at MMFA:

MAGA street artist Sabo — who previously made news by posting right-wing, hateful, and conspiratorial signs across Los Angeles — claims he is responsible for posting racist and anti-immigrant signs at bus stops across both Chicago and the Denver metro area. As Coloradan officials denounce the signs, Sabo is trying to sell them on Facebook for thousands of dollars.

On August 29, The Denver Post reported that a bus driver saw hateful signs at a stop near the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Oneida Street in Denver, noting that “RTD officials said the metal sign was attached to the bus stop’s pole with rivets and appears to have been installed shortly before it was reported.”  Additional signs were discovered at other bus routes along Colfax Avenue. Local and state officials have since denounced the signs. That same day, right-wing street artist Sabo — who operates an online gallery, “Unsavoryagents,” with a P.O. box in Aurora, Colorado — posted images on Facebook of the signs across the Denver metro area, including one on Colfax Avenue.

[...] Sabo later posted pictures of some of the signs on Facebook, saying that he “put a few up in Chicago during the DNC” and trying to sell them for $2,000 each. (His Facebook page was previously shut down for hate speech, days after he attacked Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg with disparaging posters in 2017.)

MAGA street artist Sabo put up racist and anti-immigrant signs across Denver and Chicago maligning Kamala Harris with messages such as “Kamala’s Migrants” and “Kamala’s Illegals.”

[flagellant]

On the one hand I hope Denver's RTD workers go on strike to support the movement.

On the other hand: Oh God, oh fuck, if that happens PLEASE force a table quickly please please please I don't drive D:

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

Denver has such a cool suburban rail system and it was all built from the ground up most of the lines run every 15 or 20 minutes and are Electrified at 25kV 60Hz AC and use Hyundai-Rotem Silverliner 5 electric multiple unit cars just Like SEPTA in Philadelphia

Denver RTD also runs several light rail lines however the light rail lines kinda suck

Every time I see one of those train monsters or train furrys I think of you

:3

[rabbitcruiser]

Denver Union Station (No. 3)

When originally constructed, the Great Hall also included three large chandeliers and ten long wooden benches that incorporated heating and lighting into their framework. While the renovation saw the return of similar chandeliers as the originals, it also saw the removal of the benches due to asbestos. Other modifications made during 2012 included changing the brown and tan color scheme of the interior to a more neutral white. The old ticket counters and offices were also converted into the Terminal Bar along with several retail and restaurant spaces being created on the periphery of and opening on to the Great Hall. In general, the 2012 renovation sought to create "Denver's Living Room" in the Great Hall by diversifying its functions. It functions today as part hotel lobby, part Amtrak, part waiting area, part retail, and part public space.

Simultaneous with the construction of its surrounding site, the historic station house also underwent a complete renovation.

In 2011, a competition between the Denver Union Station Neighborhood Company and the Union Station Alliance (consisting of local firms Urban Neighborhoods Inc., Sage Hospitality, Larimer Associates, REGen, llc. and McWhinney) created different proposals for the future use of the structure. Both plans called for maintaining a waiting area for transit and spaces for Amtrak, the creation of retail spaces, and integrating the interior spaces with the public plazas facing the station. However, the Denver Union Station Neighborhood plan also envisioned a public market and commercial office space while the Union Station Alliance called for the integration of an independent hotel with an emphasis on creating the Great Hall as "Denver's Living Room". By 2012, RTD selected the proposal from the Union Station Alliance to renovate the structure as a hotel at a cost of $54 million with retail, public, and transit facilities and approved a 99-year lease for its redevelopment. The main historic building closed to the public on December 1, 2012, for construction and re-opened July 26, 2014. The majority of the terminal building's upper levels have now become the 112-room Crawford Hotel, with the 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) Great Hall on the ground level serving as the hotel lobby, public space, and train waiting room and an additional 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) of the ground level serving as 10 independent retail and restaurant spaces.

Source: Wikipedia