CO: Colorado Springs hears updated Front Range Passenger Rail pitch

It may be several years before passenger trains come through Colorado Springs. The Front Range Passenger Rail District is keeping the city informed of the benefits as the rail design moves ahead in other parts of Colorado.

The Rail District updated the Colorado Springs City Council on the progress of the train system Monday. The project aims to connect Colorado Springs to the rest of the Interstate 25 corridor.

Interim General Manager Chrissy Breit told the City Council at its work session that the district was working toward a proof-of-concept train that would run between Denver and Fort Collins by 2029. The starter route would slowly increase the frequency of the rail trips through the corridor and eventually connect further south to Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

Breit told the City Council the absolute max capacity would be 10 trains per day, each moving up to 470 passengers at a time.

The presentation estimated that the train would take an hour and 45 minutes to get from downtown Colorado Springs to downtown Denver. Breit admitted that the speed may not be groundbreaking but told the City Council that by the time it was fully operational, the growth of Colorado Springs could make congestion on I-25 significantly worse.

"In 20 years from now, that travel time is probably going to feel really good. And even today whenever you have a weather event, whenever you have a crash, that travel time can feel comparable," Breit said.

The current proposal was to have Colorado Springs' station be built near America the Beautiful Park. Breit said that if there was passenger demand, a secondary stop could be considered near the north end of the city.

The biggest issue was raised by Councilmember Dave Donelson, who asked how the trains would be able to financially support themselves. Donelson said that Amtrak and many public train services across the United States could not fund themselves on passenger tickets without government subsidies.

"The only places that they really work is Europe, where it is super dense with citizens. What's the thinking about that? I think it's a cool idea but the expense of it just seems prohibitive," Donelson said.

Nancy Burke, communications director with the Rail District, said the sample route was chosen to run north because there were more local governments and existing tracks in the area. Burke said the starter route could be partially developed without relying on a ballot measure that was expected to go to voters in 2026.

Two recent bills passed by the state legislature will begin collecting fees to support Front Range Passenger Rail this year. One bill placed a new congestion fee on rental cars to fund the new train and the other taxed oil and gas production in Colorado.

Council President Lynette Crow-Iverson had served as the local representative for the district for a year. Crow-Iverson said she was ready to see the initial train route prove itself and thanked the Front Range Passenger Rail for "being visionary in the Wild West here."