DENVER — Fort Lupton-based Colorado Railcar today will unveil a new commuter railcar, the first of its kind to be built in more than 40 years, the Denver Post reports.
After two years in development, the company has created a diesel-powered passenger railcar that can be operated on freight lines already in place, allowing transit authorities to implement a cost-effective mode of transportation. Each 85-foot train costs $3 million and seats up to 92 passengers.
“With the density of population in the United States, there are clearly many cities where highways cannot solve the commuter problem,” company president Tom Rader said, citing the traffic congestion on Interstate 25 as an example.
Short-run commuter-rail travel is a growing trend in the United States — Denver, Portland, Ore., Sacramento, Calif., and Los Angeles all have implemented systems in recent years. More than 40 transit authorities nationwide have expressed interest in buying individual railcars, including Denver’s Regional Transportation District.
“This could open up opportunities for this type of passenger rail vehicle to be used by RTD in the future,” RTD spokesman Scott Reed said. “It provides new opportunities not only for transit agencies but potential employment opportunities for Colorado workers.”
Reed said that the new train will fit RTD’s existing rail lines on U.S. 36 and the east corridor to Denver International Airport.
More than 40 years ago, Budd Co. manufactured a similar passenger train, allowing railroads to continue to run despite competition with commercial airlines. But since then, federal safety regulations have become more stringent, making it more difficult and costly for companies to develop railcars of this kind.
“Those new rules have made it nearly impossible for the big car builders to build a new self-propelled car to do the things that the old Budd car used to do,” Rader said.
But Colorado Railcar saw the challenge as an opportunity. Rader said he believes the new car, designed to withstand the force of colliding with an 18-wheel truck, could increase the company’s sales by 50 percent.
“We believed that it was a market that we were uniquely positioned to satisfy the needs of,” he said, noting his company’s engineering expertise and its ability to fill orders for only a few cars.
The company will begin testing the train’s prototype next week before showing it to potential customers around the country.
Colorado Railcar was founded in Seattle in 1987 before moving to Colorado in 1990. Its clients include the Alaska Railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean/Celebrity Cruises.