Quote:
Originally Posted by wong21fr
The decline in coal will help greatly here. Freight tonnage is down ~10% from it's high point driven entirely by the shift from coals towards renewables and gas in electrical production and shows no signs of stopping. Some forecasts project that freight tonnage being moved through Colorado will decrease by ~33% by 2040 and this is probably being optimistic as coal for power production is pretty much entering a death spiral. Metallurgical coal is another issue, but that primarily heads north and east out to Wyoming and won't affect freight movement in Colorado.
So access probably isn't a $500M-$1B issue anymore. Particularly for access north of Denver.
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Idea:
From some point near or in Castle Rock, build a Greenfield track that branches off the existing freight corridor (BNSF) and out to around Parker, then up to Colorado Air and Space Port, and then into DIA (with a freight DIA bypass through Aerotropolus). At DIA, disembarking passenger trains would branch off into two lines. One would reconnect with freight bypass line and continue on to Greeley and then Fort Collins. The other would fully grade separate and upgrade A-line track and then share it with RTD into Union Station. From there, extensions would run it up the B-line and then share and upgrade the freight corridor into Boulder. From Boulder into Loveland and Fort Collins (Boulder-Longmont would be a separate RTD concern). Another branch from Union station would share and upgrade the G-line then continue through Golden and on West up I-70 as a passenger only Greenfield rail line, going through a third Eisenhower tunnel bore that is two levels one for automobiles and one for passenger rail.
Construction this starter corridor Between Castle Rock and DIA, should be done with 5 tracks, the entire length. Construct the tracks to be rated for up to 220 mph passenger service (to be utilized only in future upgrades). Each outer track designate for passenger rail only. The next track in on each side, designate for shared passenger and freight service, but with 90% it's capacity designated as freight and only 10% passenger (only serving passenger rail as a side track used only when needed). The single track in the middle designate as a freight only track which can be used in either direction, based on volume needs. Engineer the entire corridor for easy upgrade to electrify all 5 tracks in the future, if/when needed. This means passenger rail could be electrified in the future and the corridor would be rated for up to 220 mph, which could transition this corridor to HSR with minimal upgrades. This would also mean fast, efficient, electrified freight trains could be operated along much of the Front Range. But at first, use diesel commuter trains with 85 mph max speed rating.