State leaders hope million dollar federal grant helps bring Front Range passenger rail back to forefront
Denver 7 News
WESTMINSTER, Colo. A new $66 million federal grant will help boost freight train safety in an area between Broomfield and Westminster.
The federal grant money will pay for "improvements to several highway grade crossings, the construction of a new passing siding and deployment of safety overlay of positive train control across a portion of the corridor," according to Jim Tylick, the assistant vice president of passenger operations at BNSF.
During a press conference Tuesday, state leaders said they hope this federal grant makes way for more conversations on passenger rails, like the Front Range passenger rail, which would help millions travel between Pueblo, Denver, and Fort Collins.
"From my perspective, Front Range passenger rail we always knew would be a marathon and not a sprint, but it's starting to feel like the latter and not the former and that is because of one person singularly, and that is Governor Polis, who has made this project rail in our region and in our state, a priority for him, a cornerstone of his legacy," said Congressman Joe Neguse.
The Front Range passenger rail has been talked about for years now. The federal grant is now giving advocates renewed hope it'll happen sooner than later.
"This federal funding is one of the big kind of pushes in the direction to really start getting us moving," said Leslie Welch with Greater Denver Transit. "Money is always money. Things cost money. Things take time. The more money you have, the less time things take."
However, not everyone believes the Front Range passenger rail is the best idea. The price tag and timeline of the rail is the reason why some say they don't stand behind it.
"It would carry very few people, and it would cost an enormous amount of money. They don't even know how they're going to do it," said Randal O'Toole, the director of the transportation center at the Independence Institute.
Though state leaders say what they do know is this grant will help make the initial improvements to get them to the eventual rail line.
"This is a big step forward in ultimately creating, making sure that our communities are safe, investing in our economy, but also going through what is necessary to ultimately get the passenger rail here," said Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen.
"This helps us keep on track to deliver Front Range passenger rail sooner," said Governor Jared Polis.