V: How soon will we see more passenger trains in Colorado?

Steve Fenberg explains why he’s optimistic about the future of Front Range passenger rail – and in the mountains, too

by Allen Best

In this, the final installment of an interview conducted on Sept. 10, Steve Fenberg talks about his passion for rail and how rapidly he thinks Colorado can move forward with its ambitions for Front Range rail and to northwest Colorado.

At your town hall in late January 2024, you spoke with what I thought was an elevated vigor about rail. What about rail drives your passion?

A couple things. One is sort of on a smaller level. We sold something to voters that probably never could have been produced in 2004. If you look back at that, the plan never was going to happen. So on one hand, it’s like, as a constituent in this impacted area, we’re owed this. We actually paid for it.

A more fundamental piece is that I also work a lot on democracy issues: on what democracy is, election administration, making democracy more accessible, etc. I think we’re at an all-time low in trust of institutions in the democratic process. In some ways, I think it’s important that we don’t make promises like this and have people be like, “Of course they didn’t deliver it. Of course, they knew they couldn’t.”

It’s important to provide what was promised to voters, just out of an integrity in our democratic institution perspective.

Lastly, what excites me about it (also) really frustrates me. A lot of people feel this on all kinds of issues, when you know what an answer could be, you know how to do it, but sort-of artificial barriers get in the way. And I think it’s really exciting to be a part of doing big things as a government, as a society, and I think this is a pretty big thing.

Historically, trains have been among the biggest things we’ve done as a country. And so you’re referring here not just to fulfilling the promise of 2004 in Boulder County, but the broader Front Range, passenger rail and mountain rail. It won’t solve all of our problems, but it’s a big thing that requires collaboration, partnership and vision.

A personal aside. Being of college age in Fort Colins during the 1970s I could sort of foresee then what is happening now, the seemingly unending residential housing along the Front Range. Driving west from Brighton one evening. I said, “Holy Cow. It’s all developed here. It’s all ex-urban development, large lots, et cetera.” We’re not at Chicago levels or Los Angeles levels yet in traffic, but Colorado decided even in the administration of Bill Owens that we can’t build highways forever.

In January, after your town hall, I said to you, “Well, It’s going to take a while to make this happen.” You said, “No, it will be happening quicker than you might think.” Do you still think so? Can we afford it? Do you still think we’ve got this figured out?

I don’t think we have it all figured out, by any means. It is a complicated dance between state, local, federal governments and the railroad companies. The railroad companies might be the biggest wrench. They call it getting railroaded for a reason, right? For all of American history, the railroad companies have been the boogeyman, and they’re really hard to work with because they basically call the shots because of an agreement that was made with them many, many years ago.

So it will be very challenging, no question. I think we can make significant progress on it in a relatively short time partially because of the funding, partially because the federal government having funding and a commitment. Aspects of this are going to happen faster than people think. I think the long-term vision is going to take a long time. We’re not going to have 20 trains a day anytime too soon, but we could have large portion of mountain rail happening in a number of years.

Electric, eventually? Or hydrogen?

This isn’t some anything I really prescribed in the bill. I’m not an expert on the actual engineering, but the federal money requires Amtrak to be net zero, but it might be like 2030 or 2035. That will transform the industry. A huge portion of (passenger) rail cars are made for Amtrak. It’s going to spur industry to catch up, because there’s a lot of money on the table, billions of dollars. The real hard part is making sure the infrastructure is ready to put trains on.

We already go from Denver to Winter Park. It’s the same track. Question is, can we do it more often? And can we keep going past Winter Park? So I don’t think mountain rail is as big of a leap as people think it is.

Also in this conversation:

Part I: Steve Fenberg reflects on Colorado’s embrace of climate goals

Part II: On regulating oil and gas — and Xcel Energy, too

Part III: Talking about Colorado’s reliance on oil and gas revenues

Part IV: The legislation for which Steve Fenberg hopes to be remembered

I used to live in Winter Park.

The Moffat Tunnel plays an incredibly important role in interstate commerce, right? And the lease, I think, came up for it this year. Union Pacific pays the state like $1,000 a year. There’s a contract from 100 years that’s now getting renegotiated. Yeah?

I think we will have a train from Denver to Boulder in the next five years, I don’t know that how frequently it will run. I think the question also is how fast can we build it out so that it continues on to Fort Collins.

The big question will be, if all of us can say, look, it benefits everyone to get this off the ground and show that it can be done and then we build upon it, or are we going to be self-interested and say, well, if my town doesn’t get a stop, then I’m going to find a way to get in the way or what have you. Or if the stop doesn’t come near my business, then I’m going throw a fit if it goes near this other business.

The location of trains and stuff like that has been a long fight. Denver exists because of trains. It can transform entire communities. That’s the first thing they did. How do we get the train to come to us?

What difference will having a train make for Boulder as opposed to having the

Flatiron Flyer bus rapid transit.

I think there’s something psychological about the difference for people. It’s not everything, but I think busses don’t hold the same kind of status or place in Americans minds as a train does. There’s something nostalgic about trains, and it also feels, and whether it’s true or not, it feels a little bit more predictable in people’s minds.

I live in Old Town Arvada. Yesterday I took the train to Union Station. I’ve taken the Flatiron Flyer in both directions from Sheridan to Anschutz as well as Boulder. It works really well.

It does, but I also think a lot of people don’t have a ton of faith in RTD. You have a bad experience, and for a new adopter, it potentially makes them never come back. And it’s hard to run a bus system. But I do also think RTD has some issues where they repeatedly over-promise and under-deliver.