Advancing rail on two counts in Colorado

Projects aimed at developing a high-speed passenger-rail corridor through the Front Range and relocating a freight-rail mainline in the Denver area continue to advance in Colorado.

The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority (RMRA), along with transit-rail advocacy group the Colorado Rail Passenger Association (CRPA), is trying to secure funding for a study on a proposed high-speed commuter-rail line running along the range from Casper, Wyo., to Albuquerque, N.M.

Created earlier this year through inter-governmental agreements between Colorado counties, cities and transportation districts, RMRA also is working with CRPA to determine how the line could serve the Interstate 70 corridor from Denver to mountain communities, ski areas and the Utah state line.

Eye on No. 11
The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 authorized the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to establish 11 high-speed rail corridors, but only 10 have been designated so far. RMRA and CRPA are working to have the Front Range line named the 11th. RMRA plans soon to conduct the “Rocky Mountain Corridor Study” — an initial high-speed corridor designation requirement — with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).

To help fund the study, RMRA recently raised $320,000, fulfilling a requirement to obtain 20 percent of the study’s total $2.8 million cost. CDOT will contribute about $1.2 million and, organizers hope, the FRA will fund the remainder.
RMRA has asked U.S. Sen. Ken Salizer (D-Colo.) and his brother, U.S. Rep. John Salizer (D-Colo.), to “place a line item in the FRA’s budget request to provide 50 percent of the funding, matching what we and CDOT have pledged,” says Bob Briggs, the authority’s executive director. RMRA also plans to place an initiative or referendum on the ballot next year to obtain the authority to levy a statewide tax.

Since high-speed passenger trains would use BNSF Railway Co.’s and Union Pacific Railroad’s tracks, RMRA has informed both roads about the corridor plan, says Briggs.

It’s a proposal RMRA officials believe fits in well with the Class Is’ proposed Front Range Railroad Infrastructure Rationalization Project. Under the project’s first phase completed in 2005, BNSF and UP jointly developed a series of proposed infrastructure improvements, including the relocation of a mainline about 50 miles east of Denver that would free the existing track for high-speed passenger trains.

The second phase, a rail relocation study to be conducted by CDOT during the next 18 months, is just getting under way and will build on Phase 1, says CDOT Project Manager Tammy Lang.

“We will be reviewing the cost and benefits from the first phase, determining what the bypass alignment would look like and examining the potential public/private partnership financing opportunities,” she says, adding that the agency also will analyze an alternative alignment proposed by BNSF that wouldn’t involve UP trackage.

BNSF meets regularly with CDOT and expects to be briefed on the study soon, says BNSF spokesman Pat Hiatte.

Adds UP government affairs official Dick Hartman: “We are reviewing the scope of the Phase 2 study and are planning to meet with CDOT in the near future.”

— Walter Weart is a Denver-based free-lance writer.