Posted inNews

Colorado is about to spend $28 million to fund free summer bus and train trips. It remains unclear if riders will flock.

If you build it, will they really come?  Or, more specifically, if you make transit free for one month will Coloradans start riding it and then come back when they have to pay? Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis hope the answer is “yes” as they prepare to spend $28 million on a program aimed […]

Posted inNews

Railroad workers warn that BNSF’s “harsh” new policy may force them to work while sick, exhausted

Thousands of railroad workers in Colorado can’t strike over a new attendance policy that two unions say is so punitive it could lead employees to clock in while sick or exhausted, potentially leading to accidents.  The unions said in late March they would enter arbitration, after a judge ruled in February that union workers can’t […]

Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Opinion | From Utah with love: a warning about oil trains that could be rolling through Colorado

Greetings from Utah. I write to warn Coloradans of the looming threat to your beautiful state — a threat devised by Utah politicians.  It comes in the form of a proposed 88-mile-long oil railway that would quadruple oil extraction in northeast Utah’s Uinta Basin. If the Uinta Basin Railway is built it will need to […]

Posted inColoradans, News

The Cumbres & Toltec tourist railroad is back on track and a southern Colorado community is celebrating

By Jessica Pollard, The Santa Fe New Mexican ANTONITO — On a recent Saturday morning, it looked like the town of Antonito, Colorado, was on fire. But it was just steam from the Cumbres & Toltec train depot — lots of it. Four steam engines from the 19th century were running simultaneously in honor of the railroad’s […]

Posted inBusiness, News, Newsletters, Outsider, Transportation

An upgraded Grand Junction rail yard could accelerate Western Slope economic development

What if something as simple as getting freight trains to stop for a moment in Grand Junction could keep businesses and jobs on the Western Slope, support Grand Valley economic-development and reduce truck traffic on Interstate 70?  “It would be huge; an absolute game-changer for the Western Slope,” if rail owners Union Pacific and Burlington […]

Posted inNews, Politics and Government, Transportation

Colorado takes its biggest step yet toward a Front Range passenger train system

Colorado on Wednesday took its most significant step yet toward building a Front Range passenger train system as Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bill creating a special taxation district for the proposed rail line. Senate Bill 238 also forms a board tasked with getting the new train on track. The 17-member panel, six […]