'Worst I Have Seen DIA': Passengers React To Train Delays, Power Outage
DENVER (CBS4) - Thousands of people were stuck waiting outside the underground trains at Denver International Airport after a circuit breaker caused four of the underground trains to lose power overnight. About 200 people were on the trains at 12:30 a.m. Friday when it happened, and no one was hurt.
To put it bluntly, it was a mess. Lines everywhere with nowhere to go on Friday morning.
Passenger Vasa Taito had just arrived from Honolulu, "Forty-five minutes to get on the train then we were stuck on it for 20 minutes."
Lines backed up from the security checkpoints into baggage claim and even outside of the terminal.
Robert Sullenberger summed up the scene, "This is the worst I have seen DIA and I have been traveling here 20 years."
The problem was a train car that goes between the concourses got a flat tire which triggered a power cutoff. That stranded 200 people on four train cars. When they finally got the doors to open they proceeded to walk where there is no path to walk.
DIA called the power outage very uncommon, but one person countered that with two tweets from Aug. 5 and 16 from the airport regarding train problems.
Alex Renteria, a spokesperson for DIA, was asked by CBS4's Rick Sallinger "Isn't this at least the third time this month there has been an issue with the trains?"
Renteria replied, "Well, this is the first time in a long time there has been an issue of this magnitude."
During the delays, it seemed like it was every person for themselves trying to get to their destinations.
Sallinger asked Renteria, "What do you say to all those passengers who were inconvenienced by this today?"
She replied, "We recognize how taxing these delays are and we apologize greatly."
In TSA security lines, passengers were crushed together, making it very difficult to social distance during the pandemic.
Eric Hansen of Evergreen Colorado had enough, "I'm going to give up and go home try to reschedule my flight."