Western Rail Coalition formed to explore passenger rail expansion in Colorado mountains
A newly formed group of passenger rail advocates has launched a new website, produced a new video, landed some local support, and will present before the Minturn Town Council tonight in an effort to urge the state to help revive the Tennessee Pass Line through Eagle County.
“The Western Rail Coalition was formed to garner state and local support to restore passenger rail services to Colorado mountain communities and provide sustainable and reliable alternatives to road-based transportation that efficiently connects our mountain towns, workers, and tourists,” wrote James Flattum, a “finance professional and advocate for all things transit in Colorado.”
Listed toward the end of the regular Minturn Town Council meeting agenda, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Minturn Town Hall, the presentation is described as discussion of a Western Rail Coalition support letter that will be sent to state officials.
Flattum is a cofounder of Greater Denver Transit, an advocacy group focused on improving transit in the Denver metro area. He was brought on to support the Western Rail Coalition by “helping to organize technical and railroader insights from across the state to help ground the coalition’s ambitions based on successful projects in other parts of the country.”
“The Western Rail Coalition is a group of Western Slope and Arkansas River Valley advocates who see potential in activating existing but underutilized rail infrastructure for passenger service to meet future mobility needs of the mountains,” Flattum wrote in email to RealVail.com.
Besides seeking the support of Minturn officials tonight, the Western Rail Coalition has been reaching out to local stakeholders since August to convince them of the viability of cleaner, quieter passenger trains on the dormant Tennessee Pass Line between Glenwood Springs and Leadville. The line hasn’t seen freight since 1997, with no passenger service since 1964.
Holy Cross Energy President and CEO Bryan Hannegan, in a recent phone interview, said “there’s a massive amount of potential [for passenger service] on an existing rail line that’s just been sitting there,” adding it would reduce carbon emissions from chronically snarled Interstate 70 while also helping to solve transportation and housing issues for workers and tourists alike.
Hannegan, who has already helped lead the electric utility that stretches from Vail to Aspen to 80% renewable sources and is on track for 90% by the end of next year and 100% by 2030, has agreed to sign the Western Rail Coalition letter to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
Also signing on is Avon Mayor and CORE Transit board chair Amy Phillips, former Vail Mayor Kim Langmaid and Eagle County Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry. All four local stakeholders signed on individually and not on behalf of their various organizations.
In a previous email interview, Phillips suggested any passenger rail linking the Eagle County Regional Airport to up-valley communities should continue on to Vail, while acknowledging Avon is well-positioned for local passenger rail.
“I’m thinking big picture of how rail transit might generate enough community interest and revenue to become feasible,” Phillips wrote to RealVail.com late last year. “I also know that when we, Town of Avon, condemned that small piece of land to create what is now Avon Station, we were thinking about potential rail service.”
Avon Station is the town’s bus transit hub situated just across the train tracks from the Westin Riverfront Gondola that heads up to Bachelor Gulch and eventually Beaver Creek ski area.
“I’ve always thought that bringing back the trains specifically for commuters and to support tourism would be a great move for us,” former Vail Mayor and Walking Mountains Science Center founder Langmaid said last year. “All of the communities involved in the Climate Action Collaborative want to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. The train could be a great solution.
“We hear people who say they don’t want a high-impact train, but a low-impact, clean-energy, commuter and tourism-oriented train and rail line could really be a game-changer for this valley because the impacts of I-70 are becoming more and more [problematic], even with just rush-hour traffic here in these small mountain communities getting worse with every year.”
Commissioner Chandler-Henry, who is term-limited and leaving the board at the end of the year, has long supported reviving passenger rail on the line.
“It’s pretty dire — that big artery coming right through the mountains, and it’s not going to get any better,” Chandler-Henry said last year of frequent closures on I-70. “We can’t pave our way out of this, so we’ve got to have an alternative.”
Forming a Colorado Rail Authority
Western Rail Coalition advocates are urging CDOT to form a Colorado Rail Authority with a dedicated funding source to possibly purchase existing rail infrastructure if it ever becomes available in the future. Union Pacific currently owns both the active Moffat Line (or Central Corridor) and the dormant Tennessee Pass Line between Pueblo and Gypsum, where the last 11 miles of track between Gypsum and Dotsero are active for the Gypsum wallboard plant.
The WRC emphasizes it is fully supportive of other passenger rail proposals in Colorado, including Front Range Passenger Rail and the expansion of the Winter Park Express ski train from Denver to Craig through Steamboat Springs as Union Pacific looks to replace coal-train traffic. That line has the backing of Vail Resorts’ rival Alterra Mountain Company and was put on a fast track by the efforts of a grassroots local group called the Mountain Rail Coalition.
WRC also supports regular Denver to Grand Junction service on the Moffat Line, which, like the Denver to Craig trains, would come through Bond in Eagle County every day, but so far with no planned local stops.
The group asserts a 1990s plan to convert the Tennessee Pass Line to a recreational trail is unlikely to ever happen, for a variety of reasons, but that such a trail could be possible in a revived passenger rail right of way.
WRC contends its modest proposals for passenger rail on existing lines can be accomplished in a reasonable period of time, distinguishing it from multi-billion-dollar highspeed rail proposals that were studied and went nowhere in the late aughts. Also, they argue there are severe limitations on highway expansions to improve mountain travel in Colorado:
“Expansion of I-70 highway infrastructure is not the best solution to improve connectivity between these regions,” WRC writes. “The I-70 corridor is geographically-constrained, with expansion projects costing billions. Additionally, any highway investment cannot overcome the risks and disruptions from severe mountain weather and driver error that result in accidents. Often, the highway experiences full closure for hours or days. CDOT has conducted numerous studies to find alternative modes of transportation that can relieve I-70. Sadly, none have quantified the benefits of conventional rail that utilizes primarily-existing infrastructure.”
CDOT has previously expressed to RealVail.com an interest in exploring passenger service on the Tennessee Pass Line, as well as stating in planning documents the need to pursue purchasing the line if it ever becomes available.
A spokesperson for Rio Grande Pacific – a Texas-based railroad company – confirmed to RealVail.com that the company is still interested in exploring the possibility of passenger and light-freight service within the parameters of a lease deal it inked with Union Pacific in 2021. The RGPC, which is not currently part of the Western Rail Coalition, issued the following statement via text:
“Rio Grande Pacific remains interested in coordinating with communities along the Tennessee Pass rail line to determine whether there is interest in developing commuter/passenger rail. Additionally, RGPC is open to the potential of other local, non-hazmat freight that originates or terminates within the corridor between Eagle County Airport and Parkdale in Fremont County. We believe the existing rail line could play a role in state and local passenger rail goals, as well as broader community and economic development plans, workforce housing access and commuter needs, climate action goals, and more within this transportation corridor that links world class recreation and resorts, higher education institutions, airports and communities.”
Parkdale is just west of the Royal Gorge, where the private Royal Gorge Route railroad runs dinner-train excursions.
Here’s a video on the possibility of local rail produced by engineer Connor Roth, an Arkansas River Valley resident and Western Rail Coalition member whose YouTube channels is called The Off Grid Urbanist: https://youtu.be/URzfuZicEpM
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