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DIA's baggage system strikes again

Removal of tracks, remnants may cost airport $18 million

By Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 12, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Denver International Airport is ready to remove another big chunk of its money-sucking automated baggage system.

The airport has nailed down an agreement with two companies to demolish some of the remnants of the system, which was riddled with problems and cost overruns. The system even became the butt of a rash of jokes for David Letterman and Jay Leno, and Harvard Business School used the bungled project as a case study.

The system has already cost close to $700 million by some estimates, and DIA could spend hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars more to remove it.

The four-year contracts involve dismantling and hauling away tracks, spare parts and equipment that were part of the operation, which snakes through the underground bowels of the main terminal and out to concourses.

February Enterprises and Western Industrial Contractors will bid on the work.

Both agreements, which must receive Denver City Council approval, are for up to $9 million each. The contracts, though, cover steel removal in general, so only some of that money will be spent on the baggage system, according to DIA spokesman Jeff Green.

DIA will choose the most competitive quote. DIA officials said they could not provide an estimate of how much the baggage-related work will cost.

The money will come from the airport's general capital improvement fund.

"This thing never dies," said City Council President Michael Hancock. "We have to get this system out of there now, and this will help do that. The longer we wait, the more it's costing because workers have to navigate around it."

Hancock said the city hopes to get some money by recycling and selling what parts it can, but "we don't expect to get much."

The system, once touted as the most advanced in the world, had problems from the start and never worked as intended. Officials planned it as the main system to serve all airlines at DIA, but United was the only carrier that used it and then only for outbound luggage.

It was one of the reasons DIA opened 16 months behind schedule and almost $2 billion over budget. Some estimates say the system's price tag has stretched to $700 million, compared with initial projections of $250 million. The airport doesn't have exact figures but has said it will compile that data for council members.

United stopped using it in 2005 and reverted to a manual process. The airport then struck a deal to pay off $110 million that United owed on the system.

DIA is now laying plans to install a new baggage system in coming years, one that will use more conventional technology and methods.

Even to this day, the old baggage system haunts Denver.

"The news keeps getting worse," Councilman Charlie Brown said at a recent City Council meeting, referring to the fact that DIA will have to spend more money to remove part of the system. "I mean, we can't get away from this baggage system. This is unbelievable."

walshc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2744

Airport albatross

Costs of a baggage system that never worked right:

$250 million initial projected price tag

$100 million additional construction costs

$341 million additional interest payments to try to get the system working and build a separate, manual one for other airlines

$18 million maximum for steel removal, including parts of the baggage system

$700 million estimated actual cost

Comments

  • January 12, 2008

    2:43 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    clyde writes:

    So there wasn't any performance guarantee or warantee on this system? The city paid full price for a failure and then has to pay again to have it removed? Were these Peña's relatives?

    Wow! I wonder why politicians are so untrusted. NOT!

  • January 12, 2008

    8:24 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Jim writes:

    Some where Gene Amole is Chuckling.

  • January 12, 2008

    10:45 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JPH writes:

    Denver and DIA has always wasted money. Why not ask them why the new DIA parking garage is over budget and did not open this past Thanksgiving as promised? Why not ask them why engineering techniques that have been outdated for 20 years were forced on the contractors that built the garage? Why not ask them why multiple bureaucrats must approve every submittal? Why not ask them why expensive prevailing wages must be paid to all workers (this is an easy answer - to pacify unions)?

    I hope that all of you Denver residents are pleased with the wasteful antics of your elected politicians. Thank goodness Jefferson county is fiscally responsible.

  • January 12, 2008

    12:13 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    American100 writes:

    Pena also tried to have his name put on City Hall. He wanted to call it The Hall O Pena.

  • January 12, 2008

    12:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    aeb1barfo writes:

    American100:

    That's a hot one....;-)

    Jefferson County fiscally ( and MORALLY ) accountable & responsible?

    NOT!!

  • January 13, 2008

    12:02 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    AC writes:

    Uh, folks blaming Pena... take a breath. The baggage system was negotiated and contracted and installed and failed under Wellington Webb, not Pena. When Pena left office, airlines were to be responsible for their own systems. United wouldn't sign a lease unless the city provided an automated baggage system, and United brought the company to the table.

  • January 13, 2008

    4:13 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    ColoNative writes:

    Besides being inefficient, the Airport is ugly. I have seen those hideous peaked projections in other places as well - at a used car lot in Texas. Bad concept, bad design, big embarrassment.

  • January 13, 2008

    6:48 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    glowrock writes:

    ColoNative, you don't have a clue. First of all, while obviously DIA had massive cost overruns, especially with the ill-fated baggage system, it's one of the most efficient airports in the world. It's easy to get from one concourse to another, it's not a long walk from your gate to getting the tram to the terminal (and it's not like moving walkways aren't there to help when needed), and the trams operate with 2-3 minute headways. Easy as pie.

    The baggage claim area is very spacious and efficient. Same with the ticketing area, at least for the most part. Security still can be rough, but most of that is TSA's fault, not DIA's...

    As for the aesthetics, to each his own I guess... All I know is that the open, spacious feel and look of the main terminal makes most airports look like crap (at least the ones here in the U.S. I've been to)...