Denver airport’s trains have broken down 131 times in the last year so they’re going to finally build walkways so that passengers can make their way between tunnels on foot. Construction is expected to start next year. I credit JonNYC for consistently raising broad awareness of the problem.
There are many things that are great about Denver’s airport. It has strong connectivity, with tons of gates and big terminals. There’s a lot of competition, though United is increasingly vanquishing Southwest there. Frontier helps keep fares down to some destinations at certain times of day.
Because the airport’s footprint is so large, it can expand runways, ramps, and terminal space. And there’s plenty of clubs! They have American and Delta clubs, 3 large United Clubs plus the Club Fly minimart concept. And there’s both an American Express and Capital One lounge. (They lack for Chase and Priority Pass lounges, however.)
I like connecting in Denver. I hate flying in and out of Denver. The airport is nowhere near the city. Even with recent changes, TSA can be a terrible mess – one of the worst in the country. And passengers get stuck since gates aren’t currently walkable from the central terminal, and the train you’re forced to take breaks down regularly.
DEN trains down again. TSA not sending any more passengers down to the platform, due to crowding. pic.twitter.com/s6tM9XU21y
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) October 16, 2025
Here’s a train car carrying passengers with its doors open and passengers inches from the edge, heading from the main terminal to the A concourse. The airport blamed a passenger for this, though the train is built so that it shouldn’t be possible and the fail safes… failed.
@keelyhanson306 For licensing or usage, contact licensing at viralhog.com. Just cruising on the train with the doors open#denverinternationalairport #osha ♬ original sound
Train malfunctions date back to the opening of the airport 29 years ago, with multiple interruptions over the early weeks of the airport. In 1998 a loose train wheel damaged a routing cable in the tunnel, cutting power and causing a 7-hour outage with 30% of United’s flights affected.
More recently, a deflated tire and failed wheel hub caused the car to drop and drag on the track, damaging the power rail with passengers off-loaded into the tunnels and a damaged switch plate on the running surface between B and C forced one-track operations and alternating directions, causing delays.
But it’s not just the train. This was a badly designed airport that was a white elephant from the start, and it’s poorly run. The airport’s opening was delayed 16 months and an extra $1.3 billion in costs incurred because the automated baggage system suffered mechanical and software failures and was largely abandoned in favor of manual systems.
The current Great Hall terminal renovation project has been in turmoil since 2017. The contract for it was terminated in 2019. Audits showed mismanagement and poor project management exploding the scope. Poor management is a frequent theme at the airport, not to mention ethics challenges.
The head of Denver International Airport is Phillip A. Washington. He’s been in place since July 2021, long enough that the airport’s current problems – and failure to fix known issues – lie at his feet. He was nominated in July, 2022 by President Biden to serve as FAA Administrator. Given the important safety role that agency plays he was, thankfully, not confirmed.
@Denver Refugee — Rejoice! DEN is becoming ATL… bah!
Are there any other domestic airports where you can’t reach your plane except by one mode of transportation like this?
DFW terminal E is cut off from the other terminals airside but you can easily access it outside security.
The old PIT airport (aka a year ago)– I think it required you to take the train to the gates, right? I don’t recall if there was a walkway from checkin to gates.
can you walk to the BA gates in the Terminal E satellite at MIA? I think it requires the train.
SEA Satellite terminals?
TPA/MCO checkin to terminals — sorry, Lucky, I don’t share your love of TPA but can you walk to the gates from checkin at either airport?
The most similar/large single point of failure terminal internationally would seem to be MAD 4S
@ Gary — Yet another example of why ATL is such a great design. What were they thinking at DEN to not have walking as an option? The walk at ATL is actually a great way to get in some steps, and NO SHOPS to walk past underground! The walk is far better for you than visiting a club lounge buffet.
While I do hate the Denver Airport, you can walk to the A gates. Since I fly Delta I never have to step foot on the train there. Luckily I rarely have to go to that airport.
@Maxpower TPA is my home airport and it is by far my favorite mid/large airport. While the normal operation is a train to the gates, they do have walkways that I have used when there is a problem with the train. But, in my 14 years flying from there I probably don’t need both hands to count how many times there was a problem with the trains. They have been doing updates so the trains have been shut down for that but there are two tracks to each terminal so it just affects capacity at peak times.
You can easily walk well over a mile in FRA or CDG. I haven’t checked CLT but I’d bet that going from the end of A to the end of E is a mile for sure.
This is absolute garbage: “Even with recent changes, TSA can be a terrible mess – one of the worst in the country.”
DEN’s new TSA checkpoints are fantastic, and the long lines of the past are gone. I’m a DEN based flyer, in/out of DEN multiple times a month. Leff, as usual, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
@Genr: ATL is NOT a great design. In fact, it has the same flaw that DEN has with regard to horrendous TSA lines: funneling everyone (or the majority) through one large security checkpoint. As much as people gripe about ORD, it’s very rare to be stuck for long in a TSA line. Only Terminal 5 gets bad once in a while – and T5 is the achilles heel of that facility. Otherwise, you’re through in 10 minutes or less. ATL? It’s taken me over an hour with preCheck; 45 with Clear. And it’s happened more than once. Appalling to not know whether you have to show up 60 minutes early for a basic domestic flight – or will it be 3 hours? Hard pass..
Your hate for Denver airport at this point is getting ridiculous. Dude, no one cares.
As someone who flies frequently into and out of DEN and ATL, I can tell you the train systems in both airports are not good but ATL has a slight advantage. Both airports TSA checkpoints are miserable, especially ATL. Denver has been working on theirs for years and the new configuration seems to be a little better than before but still a mess. The only train at DEN that works and is very convenient is the one outside the main terminal that takes you all the way into Downtown Central Station, very convenient stress free way to get away from the DEN hub especially during rush hours.
A tunnel at last! I have a list of 18 things that I hate about Denver Airport. It is a national embarrassment which becomes even more obvious when flying internationally. One thing they have done well recently is that is now possible to reserve a parking place. But not being able to walk between the terminals is criminal – especially in the health conscious state like Colorado.
DEN should have remained Stapleton.
I’ve seen over the years from various sources such as Mike Boyd and the late Gene Amole that, apparently, there was an Environmental Impact report for the proposed Denver International Airport in the early 90’s that included the option of renovating Stapleton instead for a fraction of the cost. Odd how said report doesn’t seem to be anywhere online these days…
Perfectly acceptable method in such an environmentally friendly city. Skip the trains and buses. Walk and save the planet.
“Denver airport’s trains have broken down 131 times in the last year so…”
What you would expect from a government-run operation.
Another airport to stay away from, like ORD.
@ stogieguy7 — Well, you too can not be in that majority if you have TSA Precheck. I use this airport several times per year, and the security waits are almost always <10 minutes with PreCheck.
@Denver Refugee — Por que no los dos? Denver could benefit from two.
@Mike P — Anarcho-libertarianism doesn’t work; leads to corporate feudalism and chaos. Enough of your ‘sovereign citizen’ nonsense.
Your level of ignorance has no bounds. Pointing out that a government-controlled entity is inefficient has nothing to do with Anarcho-libertarianism or chaos. Just once, try to make a valid rebuttal that actually addresses my point.
So glad Phillip Washington has a grip on things… can you image what he would have done @ the FAA?
Oh wait…
@Mike P, I don’t read posts by the idiot anymore, but the “[a]narcho-libertarianism” lines sounds like it posted it. You see, the idiot fears the logic that is libertarianism, thus it likes to equate it with anarchism, the silliest political belief, in an attempt to belittle it. I suggest you, and others here, will find your life much better by paying no attention to the individual desiring attention so much that logic plays no part. The fun thing is the idiot will reply to this thinking I really do read it’s posts. I smile as I scroll past it.
I’m surprised, Gary, the DEN is just fine crowd hasn’t chimed in. Maybe the public-deception budget at DEN has been cut to fund more international trips. Or maybe, their “the train doesn’t break down that much” argument has trouble with the fact it breaks down more frequently than once every three days. Whoever designed this with no walking alternative to the train is one huge idiot.
@This comes to mind – Quite the plethora of cheap shots. Interesting that you don’t bother refuting his claims though. I certainly don’t always agree with the guy but he generally has something worth hearing to say.
Again, Denver International Airport was never needed to begin with. The existing Stapleton Airport could have been refreshed for a fraction of the cost.
And considering that the various redevelopments of the former Stapleton site have never quite been successful, is it outside of the realm of possibility to build a new right-sized easily-accessible airport instead? I suspect the operational-expense savings compared to Denver International would pay for it in short order.
@Christian. When I read it’s comments, I found them lacking from a debate standpoint. You don’t have to agree with me, but just throwing in “straw man’ claims when they don’t apply is low class. He groups together libertarians and anarchists, something no one with a minimum of political philosophy knowledge would do. Is it so uninformed or just trying to pull a fast one? Neither signifies anything good about such a poster. So, no, I never found anything of a political nature where I felt I learned anything from those posts. So, I stop reading them, and, with the exception of a couple of posts I made here, I now waste so much less time.
@This comes to mind – As just one example of what I’m saying, there’s a very strong argument to be made that libertarians and anarchists both fit under the sovereign citizen movement.
@This comes to mind — You can say you don’t read my stuff, but you know you do. (And, sure, sometimes, I am goofing, but, much of the time, I do indeed have something worth saying, especially if it’s calling out @Mike P.) The whole ‘no politics, we just want the jobs the comet will bring’ vibe is not a healthy reaction to those you may disagree with. But, you do you. Ignore or engage.
Thank you, @Christian. Agreed.