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The Passenger & Freight Rail Plan for Colorado
Estimated Railroad Infrastructure Investment
for Solving Freight & Passenger Rail Issues in Colorado
Presented by Colorado Rail Association
Class I Freight Rail issues that have to be solved, before passenger service can use their existing tracks, are these three bottlenecks:
- City & County of Denver,
- Monument Hill
- Moffat Tunnel
The plan is to build a 240 mile bypass set of tracks east of Limon on Highway 63 alignment, and to rebuild and reopen the 220 mile Tennessee Pass route. The plan would be to trade the Class I railroads the new track for their existing tracks in the Colorado including a contract to be their Shortline Rail operator.
The investment required to do the above is estimated to be:
|
Project |
Miles |
|
Estimated
Rail
Investment |
|
Estimated Statewide
Sales Tax |
Estimated
30 Year Bonding Amount |
| 1 |
Sterling to Las Animas (Using Highway 63 alignment) |
240 |
|
$1,344,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 2 |
Minturn to Pueblo (Tennessee Pass) |
220 |
|
$1,848,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
Rail Infrastructure Required for Projects 1 & 2 |
|
|
$3,192,000,000 |
|
0.0110% |
$3.2 billion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Passenger and Shortline Operations for Colorado |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The following projects will have to be completed in order to start passenger operations: |
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
Double Track Pueblo to Fort Collins - BNSF Tracks |
150 |
|
$840,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 4 |
Moffat Tunnel(s) Remodel - Allows Passenger service to Steamboat Springs |
|
$400,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 5 |
New Double Track from Glenwood to Aspen |
60 |
|
$720,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 6 |
New Double Track 470 Bypass Around Denver |
90 |
|
$900,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 7 |
Double Track Fort Collins/Greeley/Denver - UP Track |
90 |
|
$720,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 8 |
Upgrade Track Longmont to Greeley - Omni Trax |
40 |
|
$224,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 9 |
New Track Fort Collins/Firestone/Frederick/Dacano/Thornton |
60 |
|
$336,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 10 |
Last Mile Project Funding |
490 |
|
$490,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
Rail Infrastructure Required for Projects 3 thru 10 |
|
|
$4,630,000,000 |
|
|
|
| |
Rail Infrastructure Investment Required
for Projects 1 thru 10 |
|
|
$7,822,000,000 |
|
0.0275% |
$7.8 Billion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| I-70 Corridor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 11 |
New Double Track I-470 to Dotsero on I-70 |
120 |
|
$3,360,000,000 |
|
|
|
| 12 |
Last Mile Project Funding |
120 |
|
$120,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
Rail Infrastructure Required for Projects 11 & 12 |
|
|
$3,480,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Total Rail Infrastructure Investment Required
for all 12 Projects |
|
|
$11,302,000,000 |
|
0.0400% |
$11.3 Billion |
|
System Cost Estimates Created with Assistance From:
- Paul Smith -- Smith Railroad Consulting and Member of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel
- Dave Ruble - LSC Engineering, former CDOT Engineer
Authored the the Colorado Rail Passenger Rail Feasibility Study, prior to his retirement from C-DOT in 1998.
- Robert Leilich
Robert H. Leilich, was the founder and President of TrainMaster, Inc., which specialized in developing locomotive and train simulation software. Mr. Leilich has 42 years of professional experience in rail transportation strategic planning and economics. He is also a recognized leader in railroad operations modeling and simulation, and was responsible for the initial development of the world's most widely used heavy rail operations simulation model, the Railway Analysis and Interactive Line Simulator (RAILSTM). He has six years operating and mechanical department experience with the former Santa Fe Railroad and Southern Railway. (Quoted from Freight Capacity Challenges)
- Jack Tone - PB American Rail Consultant.
Note: Organizational affiliations are given for identification purposes only, and do not constitute an official organizational endorsement.
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