December 31, 2014

Newsmakers May 2-15: Private railway wins federal grant

As hundreds of Colorado businesses scrambled to get loans to help rebuild their flood-ravaged companies late last year, Pat Broe, one of Colorado’s wealthiest businessmen, was slated to receive a nearly $1.7 million federal grant to repair his privately held rail network.

Great Western was the only railroad in Colorado to be awarded federal grant money, which doesn’t have to be repaid, after devastating floods in September 2013.

The company approached the transportation department for its help with submitting the grant to the Federal Railway Administration. Great Western estimated that it had $2.4 million in damages at the time. Broe’s company The Broe Group owns OmniTRAX, a network of railroads in North America that includes Great Western.

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Great Western qualified for the grant because of its designation as a short-haul railroad, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation, which aided the company in submitting its grant application to the federal government. Other railroads such as BNSF and Union Pacific were ineligible because they are considered long-haul railroads.

The deluge impaired nearly 150 miles of railroad tracks and damaged bridges, leading to millions of dollars in damage. The disaster stymied crude-oil rail shipments for Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), among the largest oil and natural-gas companies in Northern Colorado. It also delayed rail shipments of Vestas Wind Systems’ (OMX: VWS) wind turbine components.

The grant to Broe, a rail and real estate magnate who owns Great Western Railway of Colorado, came after Colorado’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet wrote letters to the Federal Railroad Administration supporting the grant request. Broe is a modest, although longtime contributor to Udall, among other politicians.

UPDATE

The taxpayer dollars from the Federal Railroad Administration are supposed to reimburse Great Western for reconstruction of railroad track and five bridges in Weld and Larimer counties, said Ken Koff, senior vice president of corporate development for OmniTRAX in Denver. Great Western Railway was to contribute $434,000 in matching funds, though it has not received the federal grant yet.

As hundreds of Colorado businesses scrambled to get loans to help rebuild their flood-ravaged companies late last year, Pat Broe, one of Colorado’s wealthiest businessmen, was slated to receive a nearly $1.7 million federal grant to repair his privately held rail network.

Great Western was the only railroad in Colorado to be awarded federal grant money, which doesn’t have to be repaid, after devastating floods in September 2013.

The company approached the transportation department for its help with submitting the grant to the Federal Railway Administration. Great Western…

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