Colorado Railroad Wars Revived in Battle for Tennessee Pass Line

[TexasTowelie]

EAGLE-VAIL, Colo. – A pitched battle between private companies is being waged for control of a long-dormant rail line through the heart of the Colorado Rockies – in a flurry of recent federal filings, at least — but the real struggle may be for local hearts and minds along the route.

Being dangled before car-centric Coloradans is the prospect of passenger-rail service from Pueblo to Minturn – an old railroad town off the backside of Vail Mountain – or possibly from Gypsum on Interstate 70 in western Eagle County to Parkdale just west of the Royal Gorge.

Looming even larger in the fight for control of the approximately 200-mile Tennessee Pass Line, currently owned by Union Pacific, is how it fits into the state’s plans for expanding passenger rail service across Colorado and whether the incoming Biden administration will be more amenable to facilitating commuter lines than the outgoing Trump administration.

On New Year’s Eve, Colorado, Midland & Pacific Railway Company, a subsidiary of Texas-based Rio Grande Pacific, formalized what had first been reported on RealVail.com as pending: It had a deal with Union Pacific to carry passengers and freight on the Tennessee Pass Line.

Read more: https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2021/01/colorado-railroad-wars-revived-in-battle-for-tennessee-pass-line/33702/

[Vogon_Glory]

1. A beautiful route. I'd love to ride it

The mountain views of the former D&’s “Royal Gotge Route” are under-appreciated. Through passenger trains disappeared over that route in the mid-1960’s.

I’m sure that the NIMBYs will howl bloody murder if trains start rolling again. My sympathy is limited: having train noises resume is one of the risks they took when they bought property near railroad right-of-way where the track remained in place. Like people who build near cliff-edges or on flood plains, they should have known better.