I’m not totally up to speed with what’s going on in Colorado but this was in my “Railway Age” newsletter today concerning the study going on about possibly relocating the “Joint Line” mainline between Denver and Pueblo.
Colorado through-freight plan on track
The Colorado Department of Transportation is laying the groundwork to move through-freight rail traffic from the Front Range to the Eastern Plains, a proposal that could change the way trains move through the heart of Castle Rock, Colo. The Rail Relocation for Colorado’s Communities is a joint study between CDOT, BNSF, Union Pacific, and the Regional Transportation District to examine a public-private partnership to move through-freight rail traffic from its existing location along the Front Range to the eastern plains. If approved, the relocation will move freight traffic from Colorado’s Front Range rail lines to new lines proposed to be built east of Interstate 70, where the sparse population will be less impacted by the slow-moving trains, said Randy Grauberger, project manager with consultant group Parsons Brinckerhoff.
I am looking for investors!! I have the option to buy 5000 acres at Aroya and 7500 acres at Haswell, plus a site north of Las Animas that is expected to be the new yard for crew change and refueling.
MC, I know you visualize the opportunity so I will offer you a partnership at a very reasonable buy in.
Please send money to 17754890 Rattlesnake Road, Arlington, CO 8594723-8712067
Well, I think that was the hope/plan of the “brainstormers” behind this otherwise brain-dead plan. Personally, I think a much, much better idea would be to add a 3rd track in areas where feasible to increase capacity.
Build a new line several miles to the east? Yeah, right. [(-D]
I am sure MC and others would have better insight on this, but I have heard from some local railroaders that the bright spot in this would be eliminating the bottleneck from Palmer Lake, down through the Springs. I don’t know if the original Santa Fe ROW would have been ideal since it ran along Nevada and through the middle of town.
I also heard plans of pax service from Cheyenne to Pueblo, but what exactly is going where probably depends on who you talk to. Should be interesting though.
I am also curious to see what, if any, effect this may have on the re-opening of the Tennessee Pass line. One may have no effect on the other (relocating the Joint Line/re-opening Tennessee Pass), but I wouldn’t have a clue about that.
…I-70 joins the Pennsylvania Turnpike at New Stanton and rides along with I-76 and I-70 goes south off the Pike at Breezewood and heads to Hancock, Md…There it joins I-68.
Anyone with any sense knows it means east of I-25 not I-70.
Last I heard of this was from a UP executive. He said that the railroad was interested when they thought someone else was going to be footing most of the rather substantial bill. Despite it being a sparsely populated area does not mean it is cheap land. As other sources of paying for this dried up the railroad lost interest. As far as I know the project was never on-track to begin with. Just an idea. Denver wants all that land under the rail yards for urban development.
It would have to be far enough east to get around the Monument Pass hill (I forget its official name). Otherwise they would still have to fight the grades. Even the old Colorado Southern grade south of Denver would not work because of all the Yuppies that have moved into Douglas county.
This would be about 80 miles east of Colo. Sprgs. There are at least two proposals, one would come south from Brush and the 2nd would bypass DIA airport on the east and utilize the UP track to Aroya, then south to Las Animas.
This 2nd concept made its rounds through Santa Fe’s executive offices in the 1970’s before DIA was built and would have been closer to Denver.
While I agree that either of these proposals are not going to occur in the next few years they may indeed happen when money is available and the I-25 corridor is so heavily populated that a transportation solution must occur.
Who would have predicted the Alemeda Corridor project in 1980?? Never say never!!
HOLD UP Not the Joint line the FRONT RANGE The old C&S line Denver to Cheyenne. They want all operations onto the Brush Sub thats where 70 comes into play.Colorado wont pay for it and I will promise you its 20 years into the future.
EDIT
When the heck did they start talking about the Joint Line as well???I dont know whats going on around here.First its the Front Range sub getting moved ( BN tried to dump it years ago but still here) that project made Colorado balk when they saw the price. Can you imagine the Joint Line price??? Gotta look into this.
CDOT has been playing with the front range bypass since at least 1981. (route_rock…your source of information is in need of replacement. The only thing major-league wrong with the Front Range Sub is street running in Ft. Collins which has flirted with a bypass since the 1960’s.)
There wouldn’t be a bottleneck in Colorado Springs if El Paso County had not welched on the original deal in 1975. (succeeding crops of politicians failed to live up to original agreement due to fiscal nimbyism.)
I knew what they meant, but it always amazes me how folks (especially media) can screw things like that up. I have plenty of sense (at least I think I do[%-)]).
Can anyone give us some background on this deal El Paso County had reneged on back in '75. I’m not sure I understand how that affects what’s going on now.
Actually my source is the Division Super. Hes the one saying they want to shortline the Front Range and move all our traffic and relocate it to east of where it is now. We had a town hall meeting on it and like you say it has been going on since 1981, BUT you dump the front range you dump ALL C&S contracts!That would revert all the old C&S guys to BN status and no more 12 and tow or we dont go lol. Not only is FT Collins a problem but Longmont, and Boulder have been very vocal about the increased amount of trains.
I think the powers that be thought that maybe with RTD wanting to run to Ft Collins they would dump the line to them and go from there.Who knows.what they were thinking.Also heard rumors they wanted to dump the Golden line to Omni.Another way to get rid of them pesky C&S boys.
Now I have heard tehy want to get rid of the south loop by eliminating trinidad to save money on the taxis.I have never gone that route so I dont know whats the deal but we have had a few real town hall meetings and a few unofficial ones where guys were reay to lynch union leaders so things are pretty hot out here and I dont mean cause its summer.
In one breath they want to move everything cause some study shows that from Ft Collins clear to Pueblo will be one big city in 30 years ( yeah we all know how studies go) I think its mostly pie in the sky but the people out here think different than a midwesterner like me.There are some that actully think this s going to start this year if not next.So as long as I can get to one of the meetings or get more info I ll keep you posted.
