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High-speed commuter rail is on the move

Contributed by: John Eisel/YourHub.com on 11/19/2007

If Bob Briggs had it his way, travelers from Wyoming to New Mexico would eschew Interstate 25 for an old form of transportation. Railroad.

Briggs is the executive vice president for the Colorado Rail Association, which is promoting a high-speed commuter rail nicknamed the RangerXpress.

The train would run mostly along I-25 from Casper, Wyo., through Denver and down to Albuquerque, N.M. A possibility remains for a separate track to break west at Denver through ski towns and on to Grand Junction.

As of now, the federal government will only designate 11 High Speed Rail Corridors in the country. Ten have been designated and crisscross the United States, but none exist in the Mountain Time Zone. According to Briggs, eventually the rail corridors will be joined to unite the country, with Colorado in the middle.

"It puts us in the center of the hub, and we're not there right now," he said.

It will also open up future funding for rail infrastructure from the federal government.

To earn the high-speed designation from the Federal Railroad Administration, the train must exceed 90 miles per hour for at least 75 percent of the time.

Colorado's cost for the track from Wyoming to New Mexico would be approximately $7.5 billion, according to Briggs. Adding the west track from Denver to Grand Junction would push the cost up to approximately $13 billion.

State funding would likely come as part of a transportation package to be recommended by Gov. Bill Ritter's Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel. The panel is considering tax increases through fuel, lodging, registrations, the mineral industry or statewide sales tax, according to Carla Perez. She is the senior transportation policy adviser for the governor, and helped facilitate discussions for the panel.

Briggs estimated commuters on the train would pay about $.20 per mile and the train would average about 60 miles per hour when stops are taken into consideration. As an example, a ticket from Denver to Albuquerque would cost about $90 and last 7.5 hours.

train talley
The approximate distance traveled, cost and time, of taking the high-speed rail from Denver to these regional cities:
CityMilesCostTime
Albuquerque, N.M.448$89.607:30
Casper, Wyo.278$55.604:38
Cheyenne, Wyo.102$20.401:42
Colorado Springs70.5$14.101:11
Fort Collins64.5$12.901:05
Greeley55$11:55
Pueblo115$231:55

Burlington Northern and Union Pacific railroads are using much of the tracks the new trains would run on, but they would need to be modified for passenger use. New tracks would be built between Fort Collins and Pueblo alongside the existing track to accommodate anticipated traffic. The Grand Junction route would be a new line near the Interstate 70 corridor, jutting out where there isn't enough room.

To open up the track being used by the railroad companies, a rail bypass would run along the eastern plains of Colorado, allowing Burlington Northern and Union Pacific trains to avoid the I-25 area.

Paul Smith, of Smith Railway Consulting and a member of the Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel, said CDOT has studies under way to look at building a new railway across the eastern plains.

If the project is approved and funding secured, Briggs envisions a 2016 completion date for the north-south line, about the same time FasTracks is projected to be finished. A mountain line from Denver could be completed by 2018.

New Mexico already has a high speed line running up to the Colorado border. If Wyoming were to opt out of the deal, Briggs said the line would just go from Fort Collins to Albuquerque.

Turning the project from a concept to a reality has and will require a combination of local, state and federal government action and voter approval.

CDOT and the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, which is a collection of local Colorado governmental entities, raised $1.5 million for a feasibility study. It will look at whether people would use the commuter rail and where rail stations would be located.

Colorado's Congressional brothers Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. John Salazar are backing a second study for $1.5 million, which would be paid for by the federal government through the Federal Railroad Administration. It would study the condition of the track and how the proposed locations would impact the cost.

If both studies are favorable for the high-speed track, the Federal Railroad Administration could then appoint the RangerXpress as the 11th high-speed rail corridor in the United States. Briggs is confident the project can receive the High Speed Corridor designation.

"No one is this far ahead in thinking about the 11th high speed rail corridor," he said, adding that no one has funding in place to do any of the studies.

As for funding of the project, on Nov. 15, the Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel recommended spending an extra $1.5 billion a year on transportation, according to Perez.

Of that, $169 million would go into a category called 'strategic transit,' under which the commuter rail falls. However, Perez said other transit projects that would connect communities in Colorado would fall into this category as well.

Perez said the panel liked the commuter rail because it directly connected separated communities.

However, just because the panel has recommended something, doesn't mean it's going to happen. Perez said the governor also has panels for education and health, all of which would require voter-approved funding measures, and he hasn't decided which issue to push for the 2008 election.

Smith said the panel thought well of the commuter rail system and he thinks it's the best way to deal with Colorado's population in the future.

"People in Colorado are now realizing that it's going to cost a heck of a lot more to build highway in urban areas that commuter rails," said Smith.

Both Smith and Briggs said rail trumps interstate in productivity, with rail moving four to five times more people that an interstate.

Union Station would serve as the Denver hub for the commuter train, connecting the high-speed rail with passengers utilizing RTD's light Diesel FasTracks. At its height, Briggs envisions 200,000 people passing through Union Station each day.

The commuter line also would also use the proposed RTD FasTracks light diesel lines that would run along the Boulder Turnpike and then up to Loveland.

In addition to serving the commuter train, Briggs said the tracks could be used to deliver freight up and down the Front Range between midnight and 5 a.m.

As for whom would be running this service? Briggs said he envisions a state-run group to oversee the implementation and service.


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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
Submitted By: Brad Cuppy
posted on 3/12/2008 @ 12:17:00 PM
(Not Rated)
I have been to Japan and their train system is great. We stayed at in-laws houses in Tokyo but we also took a couple of days, went down to Kyoto on their bullet train (shinkansen - ???). The train went 150+ mph. I also visited New Zealand where a train system would do very well except they are dismantling it. I rented a car there and driving there is a pleasure but I would have like to taken their train. Back on Japan, I didn't need to worry about driving and all of the important items were near the rail lines.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Robert Hargrove
posted on 11/28/2007 @ 12:33:26 PM
Rated Story
This is just the type of transit solution for long term growth we've been waiting for. Not only would this help solve current transportation problems, as well as those anticipated by the projected (possible) completion date of 2016- 2018, but it would also provide growth in jobs and economy. The jobs opened up by the project build out and by service positions afterward would be welcome. The added economical impact by routing many intra-state travel by rail directly through the allocated stops, and eventually connected nationally, would provide a large boost to the retail, and hotel industry, as well as make Denver a nationally centered hub- opening the door for unlimited growth. Besides all this, I'd gladly take the train for the low-hassle and scenery any day, as well as leave the cell-phoning maniacs to crash amongst themselves on the road.
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Submitted By: Leslie Aguillard
posted on 11/27/2007 @ 6:47:31 PM
(Not Rated)
I am totally supportive of modern trains. Europe does trains well, they are on time and reliable and affordable besides going just about everywhere. There is NO reason we don't have the same quality of trains. And I hope you have a stop for Santa Fe, NM as well. After all, T Rex cost a lot, took years, and I-25 still comes to a dead stop because drivers are too busy yakking on cell phones to watch where they are driving... they should be on trains, but cell phones should be restricted to Cell Phone Only cars so the rest of us don't have to be assaulted with unwanted monologues.
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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

John Eisel

Denver , COLORADO

John Eisel has posted 2865 stories and 12 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. John Eisel's average story rating is 4.39.
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