Two Cheyenne sites to be studied for potential new passenger rail station
CHEYENNE – As conversations of passenger rail service returning to Colorado's front range progress, Cheyenne continues to prepare for how it may be able to tack onto the north end of the proposed railway service.
On Friday, members of the Cheyenne City Council heard a presentation from Quandel Consultants, which has partnered with the Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization in identifying a potential site for a new passenger rail service station in Cheyenne.
Of six potential locations and plan that have been tossed into the mixer, only two remain. Randy Grauberger, a senior rail consultant for Quandel, broke those two down for the city's governing body Friday afternoon.
Grauberger said he could see Cheyenne becoming a rail service hub, potentially. This is rooted in conversations of several different passenger rail projects across the country involving Cheyenne.
This includes the proposed Front Range Passenger Rail service which, if realized, would connect Pueblo, Colorado, to Fort Collins, Colorado, via Denver on a BNSF Railway line. That same line runs north through Casper and Billings, Montana, via Cheyenne, which could be possibilities for passenger rail service if the project extends.
Grauberger described two other projects on Union Pacific lines that could connect Salt Lake City to the Minneapolis area via Cheyenne and Rapid City, South Dakota, and another line down to Denver from Cheyenne via Greeley, Colorado, also from Salt Lake City.
'That puts Cheyenne as a hub, almost, for passenger rail service if you get Front Range Passenger Rail and then three different Amtrak routes also coming through, again, there's no certainty that those will occur, but they have been identified in a federal plan.'
With momentum growing for these projects and significant federal funding available, Grauberger outlined two potential sites for Cheyenne to plant its roots back into passenger rail service, saying he recalls the last passenger rail car in Cheyenne dating back to around 30 years ago.
Reed Avenue Rail Corridor
In the heart of the city's West Edge revitalization efforts, Grauberger proposed two alternatives for the Reed Avenue Rail Corridor Site.
One option, which he called the 'steam plant' alternative, would see a stretch of new rail constructed 30 feet to the west of the existing BNSF tracks running through the corridor north of 20th Street, penetrating through the historic steam plant.
passenger rail station 2
Diagram A
Grauberger said this alternative would require renovating the steam plant, which is not included in the estimated $26.7 million to $28.2 million price tag, based on the valuation of the U.S. dollar in 2023.
Indicated by a brown rectangle in Diagram A, the single-level station itself would be north of the existing steam plant, indicated in light blue, and offer baggage handling, concessions, a waiting area and a covered canopy.
The pink line denotes passenger access where cars or buses could drop passengers off at the station, and the yellow rectangle to the west would be a two-story parking structure.
However, this plan poses the highest budget risk, Grauberger said, as it would involve an uncertain steam plant renovation and acquisition of seven parcels of land.
He proposed an alternative that is slightly less expensive, does not involve a steam plant renovation and only requires the acquisition of three parcels of land.
This alternative has a similar concept but instead of running through the steam plant, the rail car would load or unload passengers at the same station site and then park in a stub track to the west of the existing BNSF line if there were any oncoming freight traffic.
Grauberger said there are typically only two or three freight trains per week utilizing this section of BNSF track.
A stub track is a spur track or siding that dead-ends, meaning it will sit parallel to the line and pull back onto the main track when it is ready to service passengers. Diagram B indicates the stub track would line up near the east side of the steam plant and go south nearly to Lincolnway.
Passenger rail station 3
Diagram B
This alternative leaves the possibility for the steam plant to be renovated privately as part of the Reed Avenue beautification efforts.
Grauberger said this alternative would cost an estimated $24.1 to $25.1 million, also using estimates based on the value of the U.S. dollar in 2023.
'A lot of the support was the fact that everybody's excited about Reed Avenue corridor, with or without a passenger station, but they felt that with the station that even just provides extra energy and excitement for a renovated Reed Avenue corridor and all the other exciting things that the city is anticipating,' he said.
Old Happy Jack Road
The second location is the more expensive of the two sites but also poses the lowest budget risk due to its location and the fact it would not require parcel acquisition as the city already owns the land.
This would be a little further to the west at the intersection of Missile Drive and Old Happy Jack Road.
Indicated in diagram C, the new platform is shown in the thin orange line parallel to the existing BNSF track. As in the other diagrams, the brown rectangle would be where the new station is, and the pink line would be for vehicle pick-up and drop-off access.
passenger rail station site 1
Diagram C
The thicker orange line would be an extension of Grant Avenue, connecting Old Happy Jack Road to Missile Drive, and the gray triangle to its east would be single-story parking.
Grauberger said that while there is less development in this area, it would accommodate some of the development to its south as multiple hotels have opened in the area recently in the Old Hitching Post Urban Renewal Area.
However, the land here is uneven and would require some earthwork and a two-story train station.
As a result, the price tag for this site is estimated to cost $30.9 million in 2023 estimates.
Similar to the other station option, it would also offer baggage handling, concessions, a waiting area and a covered canopy. Additionally, this location would require an elevator for accessibility to the second story.
Next steps
The timeline for this project is currently unclear. Grauberger said that if the Front Range Passenger Rail project is approved, it could be connected to Fort Collins by 2029. He estimated it could take an additional four years after that to get a connection to Cheyenne.
In total, this project would require municipal and county collaboration as well as working with the Colorado state government and the federal government to finalize planning and secure funding sources.
Quandel provided five recommendations to the Cheyenne City Council moving forward:
* Site the station as close as practical to downtown Cheyenne;
* Continue to study and develop Old Happy Jack Road and Reed Avenue Corridor sites;
* Stay engaged with the Front Range Passenger Rail District and submit an application to enter the Cheyenne Extension into the FRA Corridor Identification and Development Program;
* Continue to stay in communication and share information with BNSF, UP, and Amtrak; and
* Stay engaged with FRA and Amtrak as the FRA moves any Long Distance Service Study recommendations forward.
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