The idea is to pass the through freight over this route from and to the UP and BNSF corridors and keep only local freight to the existing rails. This would create the capacity for commuter rail service along the Front Range as far as Cheyenne or Laramie, WY and Raton or Santa Fe, NM, where it would possibly meet the New Mexico Rail Runner (or whatever it is called at the time).
As with most government agencies, the progress is extremely slow. They are having a second round of community meetings next month, which is fully five months after the first round. Here are the dates and locations, as announced.
- Limon - October 7 @ Limon Community Center
477 D Avenue, Limon
- Colorado Springs - October 8 @ Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments
14 S. Chestnut Street, Colorado Springs - Las Animas - October 9 @ Las Animas Elementary School
530 Poplar Avenue, Las Animas - Brush - October 14 @ Morgan County Fairgrounds, ‘Old’ 4-H Exhibit Hall
750 Ellsworth Street, Brush - Pueblo - October 23* @ Pueblo City Hall
City Hall Pl, Pueblo
* - Date has been changed and updated
Opinion
It's difficult to imagine that commuter rail will ever become a reality at this rate. Public discussion and village politics are not the way to get things like this done. Rail is the most efficient means of transportation, yet in the days of $4 for a gallon of gas, commuter rail is only being taken half-seriously. It's past time to lay rail, and we're getting people only to think about what commuter service would mean to Colorado.
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