Momentum to bring a commuter rail line to the Yampa Valley is growing as officials get closer to releasing a service development plan for Mountain Rail.
A commuter train in the Yampa Valley could bring passengers from Craig to downtown Steamboat Springs in under an hour, according to an estimate presented to the Mountain Rail Coalition on Monday evening. The trip from Oak Creek to Steamboat would be a quicker, 36-minute ride.
Mountain Rail officials said they believe each of those are trip times are competitive with driving and a safer trip — especially when the weather isn’t perfect.
“As somebody who makes that trip often from Craig to Steamboat, it might be slightly quicker [to drive], but not much quicker,” said Matthew Mendisco, town manager of Hayden and member of the Mountain Rail Coalition. “A heck of a lot safer.”
The meeting Monday brought together stakeholders along the proposed Mountain Rail route, which would start at Union Station in Denver and make its way west eventually ending in Craig. While there are still many unknowns when it comes to Mountain Rail — what fares to ride a commuter train may be, how frequent it would run and what it will cost to upgrade tracks in the Yampa Valley that haven’t moved people in nearly half a century, among others — what once felt like a pipe dream is seemingly becoming more realistic.
A service development plan for Mountain Rail, a key document that hopes to answer many of the unknowns, is expected by “early to mid-spring,” according to Colorado Department of Transportation Director Shoshana Lew, who traveled to Steamboat Springs for Monday’s meeting.
Also key to developing Mountain Rail is a new agreement with Union Pacific Railroad for access to the Moffat Tunnel. Lisa Kauffman, senior strategic advisor to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who was also in Steamboat for the meeting, said they have a framework for that deal in place that would allow the state three new round trips through the tunnel every day and the ability to run trains equivalent to 506,000 train miles on Union Pacific’s tracks each year.
“Negotiating this possibility into the agreement was a big deal and is kind of a big door opener to this being possible,” Lew said, referencing the new Moffat Tunnel lease, which is anticipated to be finalized by May 1 and will be in place for the next 25 years.
The new deal doesn’t restrict how many round trips could pass through the Yampa Valley, just how many trips can be made through the tunnel. Still, total train miles are capped and a commuter route through the Yampa Valley would count toward that total.
One scenario presented Monday would have four round trips through the Yampa Valley daily, with three of those being a local commuter line and one of those being the longer pattern that would extend all the way into Denver.
Communities along the proposed route are already preparing for where stations could be located. Mendisco, the town manager of Hayden, said they have identified a location near the town’s old train depot and are working on a grant proposal to move that forward.
“We have the land basically secured and ready,” Mendisco said. “Hayden will be ready for the train when it arrives.”
While Steamboat Springs has not made as much progress yet, the downtown Steamboat Springs station would likely be near the city’s historic train depot as well, potentially on land currently owned by Union Pacific. There is no intention to make changes to the use of the current historic train depot in Steamboat, which houses Steamboat Creates.
"Not the depot building, but the area around the depot," said Routt County Commissioner Sonja Macys. "The [Union Pacific] land adjacent to the depot has a switching yard. That makes it a safe place for transfer and that sort of thing and makes it a highly suitable place for a platform. ... The depot area, again, not the building."
Current planning would add a second station near Steamboat Resort as well, though the potential location for that hasn’t been identified publicly. Oak Creek is working on potential station locations as well.
“Oak Creek is very excited about the possibility of Mountain Rail and I think you are going to be surprised by the community backing that you have, even from some of our rural community members,” said Oak Creek Mayor Melissa Dobbins. “We are in the process right now of starting to update our comprehensive plan and station locations and all of that will be included.”
The cost to build stations could vary widely, depending on the grade of tracks in proposed locations and how straight the tracks currently are. Lew estimated that a station that has access to a platform from both sides could cost in the tens of millions. For a station that needs an overpass across the tracks, costs could approach $40 million, Lew said.
The funding to pay for new stations could come from new legislation that is being worked on for this session that would put in place a new tax increment financing mechanism that uses state sales tax dollars. Kauffman said the legislation has not been drafted yet, though this TIF would be available across the state for transit-oriented development projects, not just along the Mountain Rail route.
A factsheet about the potential legislation shared Monday refers to the as a "transit and housing incentive zone," and the ultimate goal would be to help spur housing development around train stations, bus stops and other transit infrastructure. The factsheet says the legislation could spur as much as $75 million each year for transit infrastructure and housing projects.
“Can we utilize an increment off of the state sales tax, the 2.9% state sales tax, to be part of a repayment stream for multimodal centers, train stations and bus stops,” Kauffman said, referencing legislation that Polis and legislative leaders in Denver intend to push for this session. “There will be a state board that will solicit proposals and select it and I think it would be a more competitive proposal if there was a local TIF attached to it, but it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker.”