Power Issue Halts Underground Trains At Denver International Airport, Creating Huge Lines Of Waiting Travelers
DENVER (CBS4) - If you are flying out of Denver International Airport Friday morning, getting there extra early is encouraged. That's after a circuit breaker caused four of the underground trains to lose power overnight. Huge lines of travelers waiting to get to their concourses were seen at 8:30 a.m. inside the airport as a result.
About 200 people were on the trains at 12:30 a.m. when it happened, and no one was hurt. They were stuck in the trains for about 4 minutes. Then emergency personnel had to start escorting people on foot through the train tunnels.
Although some of the trains are apparently still running, one hour delays for trips from the terminal to the concourses, or longer, are to be expected early Friday morning.
Emergency repairs on the train to the gates should be complete by mid-morning. Trains are running in reduced capacity. Passengers could experience up to 1 hour delays in their journey from the terminal to the concourses. Use A-Bridge security checkpoint if flying out of an A Gate
— Denver Int'l Airport (@DENAirport) August 20, 2021
At least one plane's departure was delayed while the crew waited for the travelers who were slow to arrive at the gate due to the train issue.
They have held the plane for 30 minutes because they were short 35 passengers
— LandonSchaeffer (@LandonTSC) August 20, 2021
Airport officials say they plan to have the problems repaired by mid-morning, and apologized on Twitter, writing "We wish a walkway to the concourses was created when the airport was built 26 years ago. However, issues like this are very uncommon on the train to the gates. We apologize for the delay during maintenance."
On Thursday the airport ran into issues when the FAA issued a ground stop due to stormy weather in and around the Denver metro area.
Additional Resources
The website FlightAware.com constantly tracks delays and flight cancellations at Denver International Airport, which goes by the airport code DEN and is known to locals in Colorado as DIA.
Get current information about DEN flights at flightaware.com.
Visit DIA's website at flydenver.com.