Denver's Higher Passenger Count Speeds Up Trains

Denver International Airport's underground train system is getting improvements that will allow it to carry nearly 2,000 more people an hour, a response to record passenger counts.

Starting in November, new computer programming will allow the automated system to run six trains simultaneously instead of five today.

It means passengers will wait less time for the next train and be more likely to find room on it.

"This new software will give us the most we can get out of the system as it is now," said Greg Holt, DIA's manager of maintenance and engineering.

Running six trains with four cars each will bump up the carrying capacity of the system to 16,800 passengers an hour from today's 14,934.

The software is part of long- planned improvements for the system that includes buying four more cars to bring the fleet up to 31, new and clearer signs, and updated voice messages. The new voices start next month.

DIA handled more than 47.3 million passengers last year, up more than 9 percent from the year before, and could top 50 million this year.

The arrival of Southwest Airlines, which uses Concourse C, has increased the number of arriving passengers getting on the train at its first stop. That has made for less space as the trains arrive at Concourses B and A on the way to the terminal.

The new programming will have a train arriving every two minutes instead of two minutes and 15 seconds.

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