CHEYENNE - Cheyenne to Denver by rail in an hour? High-speed rail across Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park?
Both are possibilities if the RangerXpress, the train planned to ply the proposed Rocky Mountain High Speed Rail Corridor, becomes a reality.
Though the idea has been kicking around for years, it seems to finally be gathering steam, and Wyoming officials this spring approved the ante that will buy a place at the table.
The Wyoming Legislature passed a supplementary budget request for $300,000 to help fund a study of the possibility of a Rocky Mountain High Speed Rail Corridor, which would stretch from Casper, Wyo., to Belen, N.M. The cities of Casper and Cheyenne each gave $50,000.
The money will be pooled with funds collected in Colorado and New Mexico to help pay for a study of the proposed route. Congress requires local matching funds before it will approve a designated High Speed Rail Corridor.
"The only people in the United States that have local funding to study the 11th High Speed Rail Corridor is us," said Bob Briggs, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority. "(And) we think we're in a great position to get the designation once the study is completed."
Congress originally approved funds for 11 High Speed Rail Corridors, and 10 have been created. The designation would bring the chance for more federal money to help complete a commuter rail project.
The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, the quasi-governmental organization overseeing the effort, is preparing to begin a feasibility study of its five-phase plan to complete the commuter rail system in August. The study will take six months, and designation of the rail corridor could come in 2008. If that happens, Colorado voters will be asked to tax themselves to help pay for the project.
If all goes according to plan, a commuter rail linking Belen and Casper could be a reality by 2016.
It's a future that could include commuters and travelers zipping along the foot of the Rockies at speeds of up to 125 mph while reading, studying, chatting or otherwise not stressing over congestion, traffic jams or crazy drivers on Interstate 25.
The currently proposed route through Colorado would pass through Trinidad, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver before splitting to go to Boulder and Greeley. The main lines would rejoin in Fort Collins, then run north through Cheyenne and on up to Casper on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks.
Only six stops would separate Cheyenne and Denver via either northern Colorado route, according to current plans. A spur would connect Denver to Denver International Airport, and the line also has been proposed to travel west over the Rockies through Colorado's ski country, and perhaps even to Salt Lake City.
The system's hub would be Denver's historic Union Station.
If the route were designated a high-speed corridor, by law, train speed must average 90 mph over 70 percent of its route. That would mean travel to Denver from Cheyenne would take an hour and a half to an hour and three quarters, Briggs said.
But the trains could go faster, and whether they do may depend on Wyoming.
When Briggs originally approached the state, officials said they would like the train to go to Yellowstone. If they decide to do that, he said, they may invest the extra money to build high-speed rail that could travel at 125 mph all the way across Wyoming.
And if Wyoming invested in these speeds, Colorado would join, he said.
This type of train, he said, could probably deliver Cheyenne residents to Denver in an hour, and if built, he said, would make the Front Range the only rail system in the United States that could reach such speeds.
Wyoming had compelling reasons to get involved this year, said Randy Bruns, CEO of Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County.
"Decisions are going to get made about rail that will affect us," Bruns said.
Rerouting freight trains to accommodate passenger trains in Colorado will affect shipments of Wyoming coal, he said, so it was essential that Wyoming have a voice.
But passenger rail could well be in Wyoming's best interests as well, he said. It ties Wyoming to the Front Range economy and could boost Wyoming business as a result.
And Wyomingites seem to want it very much, he said.
"I have been amazed at how positive everybody has been," he said. "People are talking about it like, 'That'd be so good and so necessary.' "
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BeBold
wrote on
April 22, 2007 7:27 AM Montana needs to consider this also. Link it to Billings and north through Great Falls, Shelby and on to Calgary. With all the problems the airlines have been having lately, rail will have to become viable again. Peak oil will take care of the car and truck traffic.
Bill
wrote on
April 22, 2007 9:54 AM And the purpose to zip people across WY to Yellowstone National Park from Cheyenne would be for what purpose??? Kill the small towns around Yellowstone so there will be no reason to spend the night or drive there? Please don't use MY tax dollars on a high speed train that will kill the businesses that rely on car traffic, let alone kill the airport traffic in Cody...why fly to Cody, when you can fly into Cheyenne...get a hotel, and take a couple hour high speed train to Yellowstone Park and back to Cheyenne to spend the night in the Cheyenne hotel, shop Cheyenne stores, and fly back out of Cheyenne...NOTHING spent in and around Yellowstone except the park fee...Yeah...Cheyenne would surely benefit from this...but what about the towns, shops, motels, stores, in and around Yellowstone Park? If this is done, keep it strictly privately owned, don't use our tax dollars to kill the tourist economy in and around Yellowstone.
PeterM
wrote on
April 22, 2007 11:02 AM We need nationwide (except Hawaii) high-speed rail. Don't let the 11 corridors restrict where trains go. I live near Seattle, and would like to travel Seattle-Boise-Salt Lake City, where I transfer to the Rocky Mountain system. If I want to go further east, I can switch again in Denver. Long distance trains must run 24 hours/day, not only during commute hours.
Yellowstone
wrote on
April 22, 2007 11:10 AM I agree with Bill, and do we want 50,000 people a day in the park, with trains buzzing around? There is already enough people in the park, do not bring them in on a high speed train. Good idea to Casper, but make the tourists rent a car from there to the park.
Tundra Rebellion
wrote on
April 22, 2007 11:28 AM Hah! How could they ever expect something like this to get by the NIMBY's, the BANANA people and all their lawyers, not to mention the fact that the federal government at least, is broke. We don't build things in America anymore.
Why
wrote on
April 23, 2007 7:57 AM go to Cody at all. They are all greedy in that tourist trap.
digihawk
wrote on
April 23, 2007 10:36 AM tell your senators you support improved rail service in the United States. Contact them for free at the link below.
actionnetwork.org/campaign/rail_bill_clone
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