A plan long in the discussion stage to build a new commuter rail service in Colorado may get a significant boost if President Biden’s big $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan wins Congressional approval.
For years transportation officials have talked about building a rail service along the Centennial State’s Front Range.
As proposed, that 173-mile service would provide a passenger-moving alternative to the increasingly busy Interstate 25, linking Fort Collins in the north to Pueblo in the south, with stops in between at Denver and Colorado Springs, among other cities.
State officials have said a new transit line on the eastern half of Colorado is particularly important, given forecasts predicting a 34% increase in the region’s population to nearly 8 million people in the next two decades or so.
Late last year the Front Range Passenger Rail Commission issued a report indicating that it would cost up to $2.5 billion to build the infrastructure for a service offering two to six round trips daily, just between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs.
Biden’s Americans Jobs Plan includes some $80 billion for rail construction and upgrade projects.
In a statement, Bill Flynn, chief executive officer of Amtrak, said the legislation could help make reality “rail service to up to 160 new communities across the nation.”
The President’s infrastructure legislation is now being reviewed in Congress with some observers predicting a final vote by sometime this summer.
By Garry Boulard
