Colorado awarded $66M to improve rail safety | News | coloradopolitics.com

Denver's Union Station as seen on Thursday, March 7, 2024.

Colorado has been awarded $66.4 million in grant funding to improve the safety of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail line north of Denver.

The state matched the grant with $28 million made available by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The money, totaling over $94 million, is designed to pay for crossing improvements and positive train control to be added along part of the Front Range rail corridor.

Officials said this is a major step in preparing the state for a major passenger rail project, which has an ambitious goal of connecting Fort Collins to Pueblo, a three-hour journey via Interstate 25.

“Today’s grant will make freight rail traffic in some of our busiest growing communities safer quickly while providing critical building blocks for passenger rail,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a news release. “With more than $66 million in federal support from the Biden-Harris administration, the future of Colorado’s rail network is a clear priority for the federal government, as it should be.”

Funding from the grant will help Colorado comply with “longstanding federal standards” and improve safety at rail crossings, which Polis said can be the “sites of dangerous incidents.”

Federal support for Colorado's rail infrastructure was also welcomed by Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Shoshana Lew.

"A unified statewide effort with the Polis Administration has made this important milestone possible," she said. "The Biden-Harris Administration has consistently recognized the state’s seriousness about freight safety and passenger rail, recognizing the Front Range Passenger Rail corridor for the National Corridor ID program, and now by providing this grant to improve the safety of freight operations while also opening doors for future passenger rail."

The focus on safety was pronounced, especially one year after a deadly train derailment just north of Pueblo that saw I-25 shut down for several days.

The derailment killed a person but repairs to the bridge were quickly made.

The cause was likely a section of damaged rail. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found three segments of rail and a weld point that "showed signs of sudden catastrophic failure." Video evidence collected by the NTSB showed the rail had broken prior to the derailment, according to previous coverage by The Gazette.

A more recent derailment of an Amtrack train injured at least three.

While the $94 million will not directly fund the Front Range Rail Project, it does kickstart some of the necessary groundwork needed to make it a reality.

But previous efforts, like the still incomplete FasTracks effort may make some residents wary.

Though FasTracks did deliver new light rail lines for the Denver metro area and built out the A-Line to Denver International Airport, one of the main selling points of the project, a passenger rail line to Boulder has seemingly stalled.

FasTracks has cost billions, and money is still being collected and spent on it. Likewise, the Front Range rail project will not be cheap.

One source said it will cost between $6 billion and $12 billion. The project’s website estimates a full cost of up to $14 billion, though it claims initial, limited service could begin with $2.5 billion in spending.

In December 2023, Front Range Passenger Rail was included in the Federal Rail Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development program, which came with a $500,000 grant.

The project also has to negotiate right of way access with the track owner BNSF, which can also increase costs.

BNSF officials praised the grant and efforts of the front range rail team, saying the money will help keep the railroad safe, a critical component for both freight and passenger rail.

“We appreciate the early collaboration with the Front Range Passenger Rail District, CDOT, and the FRA as intercity passenger rail is considered along the Front Range in Colorado,” said Jim Tylick, assistant vice president of passenger operations at BNSF. “We know the projects identified in this grant will benefit the rail corridor today while also providing benefit in the future as passenger rail is explored.”

The district in charge of planning a passenger rail line from Pueblo to Fort Collins said on Friday that it would wait until 2026 to seek voter approval for a sales tax raise.