(The following story by Kit Miniclier appeared on the Denver Post website on January 27.)
DENVER — Railroads developed the West three generations ago. A century ago, about 80 passenger trains a day visited Denver’s Union Station. Today, only Amtrak’s eastbound and westbound lines, plus the Winter Park Ski Train, pick up passengers at the station.
But Colorado still has 3,000 miles of track, used by 14 railroads. Two major national freight railroads, Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, own about 86 percent of the tracks in Colorado, according to a survey by Colorado Department of Transportation.
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, meanwhile, is one of several tourist lines snaking through Colorado. The others include the famous Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, the Georgetown Loop, the Royal Gorge Route, and the Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad.
Unlike the C&TS, whose ownership is divided between the states of Colorado and New Mexico, these other tourist lines are privately financed.
Colorado’s other direct rail interest is strictly business. The state owns a rural freight rail line, the 121.9-mile Towner Line, which runs from the Kansas border to N.A. Junction, just east of Pueblo. It bought the line in 1998 from Union Pacific Railroad for $10.2 million. Union Pacific had planned to abandon the line and remove some of the track.
The state leased it to the Colorado, Kansas and Pacific, a short- line railroad, to haul produce for several farming communities. The idea was to save shippers money and reduce heavy truck traffic on rural roads.
However, three years of severe drought practically eliminated wheat, the line’s primary cargo, said the Colorado, Kansas and Pacific’s chief executive, Lew Wunderwald, a Grand Junction real estate investor.
Nevertheless, the Colorado, Kansas and Pacific is negotiating a second five-year lease with CDOT, said transportation department spokeswoman Tammy Goorman.