Denver’s Regional Transportation District suspended light rail lines, canceled trains and warned of slowed service Friday due to “communications failures” amid the chaos from global technology outages and computer issues.
Outages also hit the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, the Colorado Department of Revenue and some police and fire agencies.
RTD’s real-time light rail information was not available Friday morning for commuters, despite changes to both schedules and service delays, according to a systemwide alert from agency officials.
RTD suspended light rail service in both directions on the D Line between the Interstate 25/Broadway Station and Union Station “due to communications failure,” RTD officials said in an alert.
Bus shuttles were in place between the Littleton/Mineral Station and I-25/Broadway Station, RTD officials said. D Line passengers were advised to transfer to the E or H Line light rail for service to Union Station.
E, H, R and W lines were all experiencing up to 45-minute delays Friday morning due to the communications failures, and limited service was available, according to RTD officials.
RTD confirmed the delays and cancelations were caused by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s update to computers running Microsoft Windows.
The rail operations system continues to run a reduced number of light rail trains across the entire system due to communications issues caused by the outage, RTD officials stated in a news release.
“At this time, RTD expects the disruption to last most of today but does not have an exact estimated timeframe for the issue to be fully resolved,” RTD officials said. “The outage has no impact on customer safety.”
See a full list of RTD’s canceled light rail trips at the bottom of this page.
Colorado government services affected
The Division of Motor Vehicles was experiencing statewide outages Friday morning due to the major CrowdStrike incident.
Impacted services included, but may not be limited to, online DMV services, motor vehicle Express Kiosks, driver’s license and ID card services, county DMV office services and DMV call centers, according to a news release from the department.
The Colorado Department of Revenue’s taxation division said it was also experiencing service outages due to the CrowdStrike update.
Online services with Revenue Online, in-office services and call center services are affected by the outage, state officials said.
“There currently is no timeline for when services will be restored,” DMV officials stated in the release.
The Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder’s Office tried to fight through the outage Friday morning but, in a 1 p.m. statement, announced the office would be closing for the day.
Anyone with a canceled appointment can bring their cancellation email with them to any of the county’s branches next week and be served as a walk-in, Arapahoe County officials stated.
Outage impacts first responders
Multiple police and fire departments across the state were also experiencing issues Friday morning.
Colorado State Patrol’s computer-aided dispatching system was disrupted by the outage, but emergency services were not being interrupted, officials stated in a news release.
Radios and phones are fully operational, and the state patrol has created manual workarounds to log calls and fulfill other administrative processes while the online system is unavailable, officials said in the release.
The Colorado Springs Police Department is currently on priority dispatch and accident alert status “due to the global Microsoft Windows failure and related CrowdStrike issue.”
“CSPD is continuing to respond to in-progress crimes & life-threatening emergencies,” the department said in a statement on social media. “911 phone lines and department radios are not affected and regular patrols remain active in the city.”
The Colorado Springs Fire Department posted about similar issues Friday morning, adding that all of the computers in the 911 communications center were down, but 911 calls were still being received.
The Weld County Sheriff’s Office also reported outages linked to the CrowdStrike update that caused issues with citizens visiting or calling inmates and inmate banking, the sheriff’s office said.
As of noon, the sheriff’s office’s technology department was working to resolve the issues.
List of RTD light rail cancellations
Due to communications failures, six RTD E Line trips have been canceled Friday morning, according to RTD officials, including:
- The 5:55 a.m. southbound train from Union Station to Ridgegate Parkway Station.
- The 8:55 a.m. southbound train from Union Station to Ridgegate Parkway Station.
- The 11:55 a.m. southbound train from Union Station to Ridgegate Parkway Station.
- The 7:33 a.m. northbound train from Ridgegate Parkway Station to Union Station.
- The 10:33 a.m. northbound train from Ridgegate Parkway Station to Union Station.
- The 1:33 p.m. northbound train from Ridgegate Parkway
Six H Line trips have been canceled Friday, RTD officials said, including:
- The 6:09 a.m. northbound train from Florida Station to Union Station.
- The 9:09 a.m. northbound train from Florida Station to Union Station.
- The 12:09 a.m. northbound train from Florida Station to Union Station.
- The 7:25 a.m. southbound train from Union Station to Florida Station.
- The 10:25 a.m. southbound train from Union Station to Florida Station.
- The 1:25 p.m. southbound train from Union station to Florida Station.
Nine R Line trips have been canceled Friday morning, RTD officials said, including:
- The 6:05 a.m. northbound train from Lincoln Station to Peoria Station.
- The 8:35 a.m. northbound train from Lincoln Station to Peoria Station.
- The 11:05 a.m. northbound train from Lincoln Station to Peoria Station.
- The 12:35 p.m. northbound train from Lincoln Station to Peoria Station.
- The 1:35 p.m. northbound train from Lincoln Station to Peoria Station.
- The 7:17 a.m. southbound train from Peoria Station to Lincoln Station.
- The 9:47 a.m. southbound train from Peoria Station to Lincoln Station.
- The 12:17 p.m. southbound train from Peoria Station to Lincoln Station.
- The 1:47 p.m. southbound train from Peoria Station to Lincoln Station.
Twenty-sevenW Line trips have been canceled Friday morning, RTD officials said, including:
- The 6:07 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 6:37 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 7:37 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 8:07 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 8:37 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 9:07 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 9:37 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 10:07 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 10:37 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 11:07 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 11:37 a.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 2:07 p.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 2:37 p.m. westbound train from Union Station to Federal Center Station.
- The 6:18 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 6:48 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 7:18 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 7:48 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 8:48 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 9:18 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 9:48 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 10:48 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 11:18 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 11:48 a.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 1:49 p.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 1:53 p.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 2:20 p.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
- The 2:50 p.m. eastbound train from Federal Center Station to Union Station.
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