‘First train to Longmont’

DENVER — Passenger train services along the Front Range from Fort Collins to Pueblo — and particularly from Boulder County to Denver — has long been a dream for Colorado leaders.

The elusive goal of a Front Range Passenger Rail system could be moving closer to reality thanks to federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and state and local officials celebrated on Thursday with a symbolic ride. The “first train to Longmont,” as Colorado Sen. Stephen Fenberg, D-Boulder, described it, chugged from Union Station to Longmont and back.

Front Range rail service is “long overdue,” Gov. Jared Polis said, and the “most overdue piece … is the northwest corridor portion of Fastracks” that would connect Denver and its northwestern suburbs such as Westminster with Boulder and Longmont. 

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Fastracks was approved by voters two decades ago, but the Regional Transportation District ran out of money to complete the project. There is hope that RTD can piggy-back on Front Range Passenger Rail — to be operated by Amtrak — to complete the Fastracks promise.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law contained $66 billion in funding for passenge- rail developments. The Corridor Identification Development Plan is the first step in identifying projects.

“We are anticipating several hundred million dollars of investment,” Polis said, for infrastructure projects such as rail improvements in Colorado.

“The availability of these funds will act as the engine to help us accomplish our goal,” Fenberg said.

The Front Range Passenger Rail District late last year determined that BNSF Railway freight route between Fort Collins and Pueblo was determined today to be the best route for passenger rail service along the Front Range.

“In the coming week, we will be introducing legislation that will ensure we get our fair share of this historical federal funding,” Fenberg said. The legislation is aimed at codifying Colorado’s transit goals to match requirements set forth by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration.

“We are going to get it done,” Polis said.