The Front Range Passenger Rail (FRPR) was initiated by Colorado Legislature to provide a passenger rail that connects the cities along the Front Range from Fort Collins to Pueblo, with plans to eventually span from Wyoming to New Mexico[1]. The goal is for the initial service to start in 2029 with have ten round trips daily at a speed of 79 mph by 2035.[2] The travel time estimate from Fort Collins to Pueblo will be just over three hours.[3]
With 85% of Colorado’s population concentrated in the Front Range and a 26% increase in population by 2050, the development of the corridor will greatly decrease interstate congestion and pollution by reducing the number of single occupancy vehicles on the road.[4] The new rail system will facilitate new multimodal transportation connections that link education centers, employment hubs, and communities in one of the fastest growing mega-regions in the country.[5]
Designed to use existing freight rail right-of-way along the corridor and to have interoperability with freight rail services to allow for the use of shared track, BSNF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad have already agreed to share their tracks.[6]Amtrak has expressed interest in operating passenger rail service along the Front Range and is an active participant in the FRPR planning.[7] All investments to the FRPR are expected to occur within the railway right-of-way making the environmental impacts between the alternatives negligible.[8]
A comparative analysis of peer rail systems concluded that most rail systems in the United States operated fewer than ten round trips per day.[9] Additionally, there is a strong correlation between the number of riders and the expense of the service, as expected.[10]The FRPR ridership supports at least six round trips per day, but ridership begins to flatten out after ten roundtrips, making it inefficient to increase the number of round trips past this threshold.[11] At six roundtrips, FRPR is expected to attract just over 700,000 riders.[12] If ten round trips were adopted, ridership is projected to increase by 25%.[13]
Alternative speeds have been proposed for the FRPR, varying between 79 mph and 125 mph.[14] However, speeds above 110 mph proved impractical due to the host railroads not supporting speeds above 90 mph, as well as the railroad’s geometry.[15] Therefore, the five service alternatives that were developed operate at either 79 mph or 90 mph.[16]Anything slower than 79 mph would not be competitive with auto travel times, [17] yet increasing from 79 mph to 90 mph only resulted in a five-minute time savings and a less than 2% increase in ridership for an end-to-end run.[18]Therefore, speed is not a distinguishing factor in the service alternatives.[19] Depending on which service alternative is adopted will determine the amount of investments needed to include rail sidings, widen bridges, or flatten curves.[20]
The Colorado Department of Transportation has estimated that building a passenger rail from Fort Collins to Denver will cost about $1.2 billion dollars.[21]While the train fare has not yet been determined, the alternative service with six roundtrips at 90 mph has the best ratio of operating and maintenance costs to revenue.[22] The fare will not be used to cover the costs of implementing the rail service. Most of the capital costs are associated with the base infrastructure to implement passenger service and there are opportunities to get federal funding for those costs.[23]
Funding for the FRPR primarily comes from state funding.[24] Colorado SB-21-260, Sustainability of the Transportation System created new funding sources and state enterprises to improve and expand transportation infrastructure with a focus on mitigating environmental and health impacts of transportation systems.[25]Additional state funding comes from SB 24-184, which collects rental car fees for intercity bus and passenger rail services.[26] The opportunity for more funding will be on the ballot in 2026, with the proposal of an allocation of sales tax towards the FRPR.[27]
There is an opportunity for federal funding through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program (CRISI) and the Corridor Identification and Development Program.[28] Under the CRISI, projects are eligible for funding if they are capital projects that address congestion challenges affecting rail service and reduce congestion and facilitate ridership growth along heavily traveled rail corridors.[29] The FRPR meets these criteria. Under the Corridor Identification and Development Program, $500,000 is awarded for eligible activities related to the initiation of a grantee’s Corridor development efforts including the development of a scope, schedule, and cost estimate. [30]
Federal funding could also come from the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRFI) program.[31]Under the RRFI, the funding may be used to improve or rehabilitate rail equipment, develop or establish new intermodal or railroad facilities, or to finance transit-oriented development.[32] The direct loans can fund up to 100% of a railroad project with repayment periods of up to 35 years with a low interest rate.[33]
Colorado’s population is expected to increase by 3 million by 2040, making it one of the fastest growing states in terms of population and economic opportunity.[34]Today, Interstate 25 is the only interstate that connects the front range cities, and in its current state it will be insufficient to handle the number of commuters expected in the coming years.[35]Diversifying the modes of transportation will make all transportation more reliable and more efficient, allowing Coloradans the opportunity to travel the state with ease.
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