Eagle County left out of state rail study, locals meet with officials over future consideration

Officials are looking to expand the role of rail in the state’s transportation system. Don’t expect Eagle County, at least the populated portion, to have a part to play.

While Governor Jared Polis is pushing to start passenger service between Denver and Craig, or at least Steamboat Springs this year, that service would be largely direct.

Eagle County Commisssioner Jeanne McQueeney, the county’s representative on the Core Transit board, noted that she was recently at a meeting of locals who would like to be included in a broader study of rail service. McQueeney noted that representatives of the county’s towns along the Interstate 70 corridor would like to be included in a study.

But, she added, there’s still a lot of confusion about what that study might cover, or what the community might want.

McQueeney noted that Polis would like to see a “mode shift” in the state’s transportation system, in an effort to take vehicles off the state’s crowded roads. But, she noted, “One (rail) line to Craig isn’t going to create it.”

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And, she added, the state isn’t going to include Eagle County in any feasibility study this year. And, given uncertainties regarding the federal budget, money from Washington D.C. is unlikely, too.

Study funds are unlikely

That means it’s unlikely a study is on the immediate horizon.

If a study is ultimately conducted, and ultimately determines a demand, there could be a passenger rail line from Dotsero, or, more probably, the Eagle County Regional Airport, to Avon. That would allow locals or visitors to get off at Avon, then take buses or shuttle vans to Beaver Creek or Vail.

McQueeney said the Denver Rio Grande Pacific Railroad has a lease to operate passenger rail on the tracks. And, she added, that firm has expressed an interest in providing service.

But would passenger service work?

Longtime Avon resident Amy Phillips isn’t so sure. Phillips, a former Avon Town Council and Core Transit board member, has lived near the tracks when freight trains ran regularly along the valley floor.

Phillips said her view is that airport passengers — the majority of whom are headed toward Vail for their vacations — would be unlikely to jump on a train unless it took them straight to Vail.

That creates another problem, Phillips said — running a line through Dowd Junction into Vail.

“I don’t want my county (or Core Transit) to fund the study when you can’t find your way through Dowd Junction,” Phillips said.

The other part of the problem is finding a way to bring passengers from Leadville through Minturn.  

Minturn is skeptical about trains

Like Phillips, Minturn Mayor Earle Bidez has lived in town since freight trains rumbled through town at all hours.

Bidez noted that many town residents these days probably don’t want to deal with the noise from locomotives, especially since he was told by the president of the Denver Rio Grande Pacific that electric engines can’t make the climb between Minturn and Leadville. That means that diesel-powered engines would have to be used.

Bidez said he believes residents are “very skeptical” a commuter train would be any faster than taking a bus or a car between Leadville and Minturn. That means the train wouldn’t get much use, he said.

Phillips agreed, noting that much more than a 10-minute difference between a train and a bus ride or drive between Leadville and Minturn would keep people on that bus or in their cars.

Phillips said she’d like to see a study done. But who will pay for it remains an open question.

McQueeney wondered if the the airport, Vail Resorts or Core Transit might have an interest in participating in funding a study. But even if a study is funded, there’s no way to know what it might reveal. The valley landscape has changed since trains last ran through the valley, with some expensive real estate now just a stone’s throw from the tracks.

Bidez noted that Core Transit has done a “fantastic job” in its first couple of years of operation. Whether that might include rail is another question.

Phillips, whose home is a stone’s throw from the tracks, said she’d be willing to again have trains running near her home — if she could ultimately get into Vail by rail.

Ultimately, though, “It’s all about reducing traffic on (Interstate 70),” she said. “And the problem we have on I-70 is a statewide problem.”