The state plans to spend $44 million from the Federal Railroad Administration on rail safety and emergency response across Western Slope mountain corridors, a region that has experienced a spate of train crashes and derailments over the past year.
Work paid for by the grant will start in 2029 and include the installation of rockfall barriers, specialized fencing and other stabilization measures along approximately 2 miles of rail through Byers Canyon in Grand County where rockfall has caused derailments, damaged trains and delayed passenger and freight service.
The federal money “will make travel safer and more reliable as we strengthen the connection between mountain communities and make it possible for additional growth in mountain rail travel,” said Shoshana Lew, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The money will also fund the construction of six mobile hazardous material and emergency response caches in East Portal, Winter Park, Hot Sulphur Springs, Steamboat Springs, Dotsero and Parachute, to be developed over time in partnership with the Colorado State Patrol’s Hazardous Materials team and the Colorado Division of Fire Protection and Control’s experts, a CDOT spokesperson said. CDOT says the caches “most likely will be two or three trailers that can be easily transported to the scene of an emergency as needed.”
The caches will start to be assembled in 2029. They will give local fire departments and supporting responders quick access to things like polypropylene tubes that can absorb oil and other hazardous materials, various kits to plug leaks, personal protective equipment, material detection and hazard characterization tools, firefighting equipment and mass care, communication and incident support instructions.
Work should end by 2030, a timeline “somewhat dependent on the Federal Railroad Administration’s processes,” CDOT said.
And the $44 million, plus an additional $11 million from the governor’s office to fund CDOT’s Safe, Agile, Fast and Efficient Rail Travel project, will pay for safety analyses done with done in conjunction with the railroad, local road jurisdictions, engineers and regulators from the Public Utilities Commission at seven crossings throughout Grand County that an average of 13 trains pass through per day.
A woman was struck by a train close to one of those crossings in Winter Park last week.
The Grand County Coroner’s Office hasn’t released details about the accident, but the Fraser Winter Park Police Department said in a news release she died near the busy Vasquez Road railroad crossing behind the Cooper Creek Square shopping center on the east end of Winter Park.
Police said the crossing “did not play a role in the incident.” But the intersection is one the Colorado Department of Transportation will review as part of the federally funded project.
The woman’s death is the latest in a string of rail accidents on the Western Slope in recent months.
Earlier this month, a coal train derailed near Parachute, shutting down U.S. 6 for hours.
In May, the Canyon Spirit luxury sightseeing train collided with an oil tanker near Rifle, causing a major spill, track damage and minor injuries.
In December, a Union Pacific train derailed near Whitewater in Mesa County, spilling thousands of gallons of fuel, oil and coal into the Gunnison River.
And Colorado is on track to see millions of gallons of crude oil pass through Western Slope communities after the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2025 approved a new 88-mile railway that allows thousands of barrels of waxy crude oil from Utah to be transported along the Colorado River every day.