The first train to carry passengers between Denver and Longmont in decades rolled out of Union Station Thursday afternoon with Gov. Jared Polis, state lawmakers and transportation leaders on board.
“We are the inaugural passengers on Front Range Passenger Rail demo today,” Polis said, kicking off the trip from Union Station’s Platform 5. “All aboard!”
The urban sprawl gave way to farm fields, creeks and cottonwood trees as the Amtrak Superliner moved away from the city. About a half-hour in, the train merged onto freight tracks that aren't used used for passenger travel.
“This is a huge moment in my life,” said conductor Brad Swartzwelter over the loudspeakers. “I grew up in Boulder. I’ve spent my entire life watching freight trains on the line that we just joined, and I can’t tell you what an honor it is to now be the conductor of the first passenger train on the main line towards Boulder.”
The 44-mile demonstration trip to Longmont took about 90 minutes, far slower than what the train will ultimately travel when it opens to the public, according to Amtrak President Roger Harris and other transportation officials. Amtrak plans to operate along the route, which will also connect to other Amtrak service.
The plan is for the Front Range Passenger Rail to take passengers from Fort Collins down to Pueblo, with stops in Boulder, Longmont, Denver and Colorado Springs.
Early estimates have put the project’s cost at between $1.7 and $2.8 billion for service from Fort Collins to Pueblo. There are further plans to extend the route to Cheyenne, Wyoming in the north and Trinidad in the south.
Polis, state lawmakers and transportation leaders want to secure a portion of the $66 billion in federal funding for passenger rail from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The federal government agreed in December to provide $500,000 in startup funding.
“This is real. It’s not some future technology that doesn’t exist. It’s actual trains on the ground,” Polis said. “We can establish reliable passenger rail service across the entire front range from Pueblo through Fort Collins, and the beginning piece of that is the long overdue northwest passenger rail.”
The northwest section of the Front Range Passenger Rail, between Fort Collins and Denver, will open to the public first, potentially within four to five years. Tracks for freight trains already exist along the route, and just need upgrades to allow for higher speed and new signals. The section south of Denver, especially between Denver and Colorado Springs, will take more effort to develop because new track needs to be laid along that route.
State lawmakers also plan to help fund and support the project through legislation. The measures would launch studies on the best ways for the state to help fund the project and connect it to the state bus system. Senate President Steve Fenberg, who is leading a proposed state funding bill, said the level of financial support from the state directly contributes to how much federal funding will come in.
“The more you can match it, the more competitive your grant is going to be,” Fenberg said. “That’s why this bill is critical to locking in that federal funding.”
In 2021, lawmakers created the Front Range Passenger Rail District to oversee the project and dedicated $1.5 million to start development.
The demonstration trip was marked by enthusiasm, but there are concerns about the project, including from towns along the proposed route like Berthoud, which the Front Range Passenger Rail will pass through without stopping.
The town's Mayor Will Karspeck has long supported the project, even testifying in the state legislature in support of it, but is concerned that Berthoud and other rural communities will be left out of the new transit system and possibly lose the public transportation they have now.
“Our board and our community would really support a rail station. We've all been instantly soured by how this has turned out,” Karspeck said. “We’re the collateral damage in all this. I really feel there’s a genuine equity issue here where we’re the smallest player up here and not receiving anything.”
The FLEX bus currently serves Berthoud, Loveland and Fort Collins, and is funded by each of the three. Karspeck is worried Berthoud will lose the service if Fort Collins and Loveland consider it redundant when the train is operational. He’s also concerned about the noise and air pollution the train will create as it moves through town.
Governor Polis and Senate President Fenberg addressed the concerns Thursday and said the stops currently planned – in Denver, Boulder, Longmont and Fort Collins on the north side – are just the beginning.
“What we’re talking about today is getting the project off the ground and there’s going to be more work to do,” Fenberg said. “The amount of stops that we have to make a passenger rail in the short term is not going to be the end.”
Fenberg also said cutting-edge train technology used on the route has little air pollution and noise.
“This is going to be one of those lines that is going to be able to use that new technology,” he said. “It is a lot quieter, there’s virtually no vibrations. It is a whole different animal, frankly, than the old way of thinking about a train coming through town.”
Fenberg hopes more stops will eventually be added along the line for local service to smaller communities like Berthoud in addition to express service between cities.
Polis agreed, and reiterated a commitment to develop connecting bus service to communities surrounding the route as well, including support for existing buses, like the Flex Bus.
“We see a passenger rail as part of the overall solution along with more opportunities for bus service,” Polis said.
The Front Range Passenger Rail is one project within a larger landscape of railroad development plans in Colorado. Other planned lines are the Mountain Rail, which would run from Denver through the mountains to Craig, and the Southwest Chief, which would serve the southeast region of the state.
The railroad lines are part of Governor Jared Polis’ goals, supported by Democratic state lawmakers, to accommodate the state’s growing population, connect communities, ease traffic and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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