GDT > RTD Rider’s Guide > Routes > N Line
Heading north into the suburbs…
Opened in September 2020, the N (‘North Metro’) Line heads north from Denver through the suburbs of Northglenn and Thornton along the alignment of the former Dent branch, which RTD purchased from Union Pacific. The current ‘Phase 1’ terminus is at Eastlake & 124th is located 13 miles from Union Station and trains take 29 minutes to complete the trip.
Map & Schedule
The N Line operates from 5:30am to 11pm, 7 days a week with an extra late night round trip being operated at 11:26pm from Union Station on Friday nights. Saturday nights also have this extra trip plus a 2nd additional round trip at 11:56pm. Frequency is 30 minutes at all times.
Vehicles Used
The N Line has an interesting operating arrangement, where five Hyundai Rotem ‘Silverliner V’ multiple unit trains from the commuter rail fleet are are made available to RTD each day by Denver Transit Operators (DTO). RTD then supplies the operators and conductors to run the service. Usually three trains are needed in service, a fourth train is kept as a spare at a siding located at 31st St (just behind RTD’s District Shops / Platte Garage) and a fifth is held in reserve by DTO at the Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility.
By arrangement with DTO, train lengths may sometime be lengthened for special events. It requires three trains to operate the 30 minute frequency service.
The line is electrified at 25kV 60Hz AC throughout.
Ridership
Note: Partial year figures for 2020 as the N Line opened in September that year.
The Eastlake & 124th Station Bandstand
A curious structure exists at Eastlake & 124th Station, which GDT is referring to as ‘the bandstand’. The bandstand is not located on a route train customers would use to access the platforms and services no discernable transit purpose. If you have any information on why this structure was built, please feel free to email us.
Extension to North Thornton / Highway 7
As part of RTD FasTracks program, there are ‘Phase 2’ plans to extend the N Line 5.5 miles further north in to North Thornton / Highway 7.
Finish the N Line Campaign
GDT is running a campaign to get RTD to finish the N Line extension to North Thornton / Highway 7 Station. Click the button below for more details:
More N Line Content…
