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Could we be moving towards a passenger rail line along the Northern Front Range?
Written by Elliott Johnston
Thursday, 29 April 2010
The picture looks beautiful: a passenger rail system that connects Fort Collins to Denver. To be able to ride along the Northern Front Range car-free, glancing up from your magazine and looking out towards Longs Peak through big windows, watching the towns roll by, all the while skipping all that stressed-out I-25 congestion.
The reality: it could be enormously expensive and it could take decades to complete. Despite the speculation, citizen-powered non-profit Front Range on Track wants to give reality a push. FROT is promoting a plan for a passenger rail line for Northern Colorado that will run on existing track along the 287 corridor, stopping in the city centers of Fort Collins, Loveland, Berthoud, and Longmont, enroute to Denver. The plan is separate from the costly, high-speed rail plan recently put forth by the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority.
FROT will be holding an informational session on Sunday, May 2nd, at Avogadro’s Number in Fort Collins, from 5-7pm. In between the free pizza and bluegrass music, Fort Collins-based Larimer Country Commissioner candidate Adam Bowen will give a presentation called "Vision for Passenger Rail on the Front Range."
Matter Daily recently spoke with Bowen about Front Range on Track, how their plan differs from the high-speed rail proposal, and what citizens can do to get involved with supporting passenger rail travel in Northern Colorado.
Matter Daily: Can you talk about how you became involved in this particular angle of Front Range train travel?
Adam Bowen: I’ve always been aware that we’ve had a lack of transit options, I would say, statewide. There’s really no regional system. That was evident traveling around, and being in other places that had systems that functioned well. And then CDOT came out with a couple of options that they were seeking public comment on back in 2008, and so some other rail advocates and I got together and said, “We’ve really got to comment on this.” Because at that time there was an Option A and an Option B that CDOT was presenting. Option A basically involved a good chunk of money for roads, road expansion, and a plan to put rail on the existing BNSF line, through the existing core of each of the cities along the Northern Front Range, essentially along the 287 corridor. And Option B was more road expansion but specifically a BRT (a Bus Rapid Transit Line) down the median of I-25. And it seemed like of those two options, one was where the people are currently, and where the employment is currently and the other was 5-6 miles east of the core of all the towns, and it didn’t really fit the development pattern that exists, and so Option B seemed like a fairly weak alternative.
So several of us got behind getting the word out about these two options and encouraged folks to comment on them and in the process of that, created Front Range on Track.
Image courtesy of Front Range on Track.
MD: A lot of people, when thinking about modern rail travel, go right to a high-speed rail fantasy. Can you talk about the difference between high-speed rail and what you are talking about?
AB: There is a statewide high-speed rail authority, but high-speed rail works well as an alternative to a short flight. The most evolved high-speed rail program in the country right now is in California between San Francisco and Los Angeles. And that’s normally an hour flight, but if you think about all the door-to-door time, through car traffic congestion, through security and all that, it winds up being a many-hour trip. So by installing a high-speed rail from downtown L.A. to downtown San Francisco, the idea is that you can basically get door-to-door in two and a half hours. That’s a large improvement, and it also takes a lot of pressure off the need to expand the airports, which is a fairly pricey sort of venture. High-speed rail works great when you’ve got a city pair, two big metro areas that are separated by 200-500 miles, let’s say, and you can quickly get from one to the other.
There’s a minimum number of stops along a high-speed rail line. And here in Colorado, while it would be great to get from Fort Collins to Denver in 35 or 45 minutes, we really are only 65 miles apart from downtown Fort Collins to downtown Denver. And there are a number of communities that are in between that need to be served: Loveland and Berthod and Longmont. If you follow the BNSF line, it goes through the heart of each one of those towns.
MD: High-speed rail in Colorado is poised to take decades and billions of dollars. Does the passenger rail system you are proposing make more sense financially and could it be done faster?
AB: Yes and yes. First off all, let me say that I think RMRA’s plan is visionary plan. And I think big projects don’t get done without a lot of vision. So that part was good. But, if you look at the price tag, it’s 21 billion dollars. And really a lot of that money goes into the I-70 line that goes up into the mountains from D.I.A. up to Eagle County Airport. Another piece of it is over Monument Hill and down into Colorado Springs and down to Pueblo.
But really if you look at population growth, a lot of it is on the Northern Front Range, the Fort Collins to Denver corridor. This is where the majority of the residents of the state live. So looking back: a 21 billion dollar plan to build a larger network. CDOT’s study to establish passenger rail on the existing BNSF line called for 750 million. So it’s about 3.5 percent of the costs of what RMRA is proposing.
CDOT came out with a timeline about 6-8 months ago, concerning when we could establish Passenger Rail on that BNSF line up to Fort Collins. They were saying we could do that by the year 2075. [laughs] So they are saying this with a straight face. I mean, who here now is even going to be around in 2075 to do that? If it’s going to take until 2075 to build a 750 million dollar program, I don’t know how long it’s going to take to do a 21 billion dollar program. We really need to focus on what’s achievable and how to get this done at lower cost and make it a simpler system and get it done sooner.
MD: So what is achievable?
AB: It’s a good question. But I think it’s easier to raise 750 million than it is to raise 21 billion. And also I think you’ve got support here along that BNSF route.
There are some good benchmarks around the country for systems that have been set up in much less time. Down in New Mexico, there is a line called the Rail Runner, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The population densities between those cities are similar to that of Denver to Larimer County. Looking at that system, which was done in about 3 or 4 years, they found a way to do it.
MD: What do you think is one of the biggest obstacles that this passenger rail plan faces?
AB: BNSF needs to be engaged. They own the track, they own the right-of-way, and so really they are the ones who have the power to make this go or not go.
When I say there’s a few benchmarks, another one that is out there that is just sort of operating this last November of ’09. It runs from Minneapolis up to St. Cloud, I think. That’s actually on BNSF track and BNSF is the operator of that line.
I think what Front Range On Track wants to do is instead of the “Hey, I think we are going to look at this over the next six decades” approach with CDOT, we’d like to really engage the public more, and look at those obstacles, and really make some decisions about what its going to take to make this happen sooner.
MD: What can the public do to get involved, especially people who would love to see this happen, but are jaded about a reality that seems to have us just widening and widening I-25?
AB: Right, if you look at anywhere where we are just widening the freeway, all you do is just produce more congestion, and pretty soon you’ve got gridlock. Especially with an aging population, Peak Oil, and the risk of increasing fuel costs, it puts us in an economically precarious position to rely solely on automobiles for transit in this region.
I would encourage people to become more educated about the issues. Front Range on Track would like to provide the opportunity for that. And also for people to talk to their elected officials and speak out, and say, “2075 is too long to wait for this.”
Front Range On Track, Sunday, May 2nd, Avogadro’s Number, 605 S. Mason St., Fort Collins, 5-7pm, FREE.
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