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B E H C the Frequency.

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Happy Friday, Boulder. Thanks for tuning in to the Boulder Frequency Bonus episode. We hope you're enjoying some more content from us on Fridays, and we look forward to catching up with you next week.

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I'm down in Pueblo, Colorado. You know, the folks in Pueblo don't know anything about fast tracks or about RTD, but the folks in Pueblo have been pushing for passenger rail for a couple decades. Usually led by me when I was a state legislator or county commissioner down here. As we were up at the state capitol pushing for front-range rail to connect the state, we'd have these uh boisterous boulder county legislators who would say, you can't have a train until we get our train. And they'd do everything they could to kill the future of rail in the state. And so I quickly learned that we needed to solve a fast tracks problem. It's an albatross that's over the neck of the RTD region, but also the whole rest of the state.

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That's Sal Pace talking about fast tracks. If you're new to Boulder County or just not up to date on the politics of local transportation, you might not know what fast tracks is or why people are so upset about it. Taxpayers in the eight counties that make up RTD have been paying for fast tracks since 2004. It was supposed to connect the entire district via light rail. 78 miles of track have been built between Denver and communities like Littleton, Lone Tree, Golden, Arvada, and out to DIA. But Boulder and Longmont residents are still waiting for their train. Construction costs have ballooned well past a billion and a half dollars to bring the B-line to Boulder County. Elected officials and even RTD representatives have begun to admit the project may never happen. Here's where Sal Pace comes in. He's the general manager of the Front Range Passenger Rail District, the 13-county entity that wants to connect Pueblo to Fort Collins and many cities in between. You've heard Sal recount Fast Track's failure as an obstacle to front range passenger rail. Here's more from Sal on just how he managed to surmount the seemingly insurmountable.

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So ultimately, we as a front range passenger rail district determined that the strongest alignment for front range rail was actually along the Highway 36 corridor to the northwest from Denver to Boulder. And we determined that maybe there's a solution here where RTD needs to complete their promises. We want to build intercity passenger rail to connect communities like Fort Collins and Colorado Springs and Pueblo who don't even know what fast tracks is. Maybe we could bring everyone together, including RTD, and agree to cover the uh area from Denver up to Longmont jointly with RTD and state dollars, and actually build a new service and ask RTD to help cover that cost. Along the way, we agreed to add three new stops. And so Westminster, Broomfield, and Louisville are actually stops that we added to our proposed service area because it was they were part of the fast tracks promise originally.

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By now, you might be familiar with front range passenger rail. They've done a big marketing push in recent months, holding a public contest to name the train. Coco, short for Colorado Connector, was announced as the winner in early April. They've also been hosting town halls across the region. For the details on front range passenger rail, let's go back to Sal.

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We're actually doing intercity passenger rail, which is governed and managed by the Federal Railroad Administration, longer distances typically, and faster speeds between communities connecting cities as opposed to commuter rail, which is what RTD is, what Fast Tracks is, connecting a metro region for commuter service, daily commuter service. The service itself is actually going to be heavy rail, trains with restrooms and cafe cars and uh ticket guys with cute little hats working on the trains. The service will feel more like an Amtrak service. However, for financing purposes and political purposes, it's being paid for in part from the fast track savings account and from RTD.

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The initial service will cost an estimated$333 million to build out, with slightly more than half coming from the Colorado Department of Transportation. RTD will cover the rest, about$156 million, either from the Fast Track Saving Account Sal mentioned earlier, or by borrowing money. Annual operations for the train are projected to cost$30 million shared between the state and RTD. Three round trips per day are planned to start with an ambitious target launch date in 2029. It would take one hour and 48 minutes to get from Denver to Fort Collins, or vice versa. Stations would be built along existing tracks, often near historic railroad depots. In Boulder, that's the Boulder Junction area, near 30th and Pearl. Longmont Station would be downtown in a planned hub that includes a new campus for Front Range Community College. Louisville Station would also be near downtown, where BNSF tracks currently run. The full vision is 10 daily trips and eventual expansion into Wyoming and New Mexico. To fund it, voters in the district will be asked to pay a sales tax up to five cents per$10 purchase. The question may be put to voters this fall. Given FastTrack's complicated legacy in Boulder County, front-range passenger rail might be a hard sell even in communities that have traditionally embraced taxes and public transportation. Sal said his team is well aware of the bad blood. They are working hard to show voters this is one train that will actually run.

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So compared to fast tracks in 2004, the costs weren't modeled out beforehand. We've already negotiated with the Class One railroads. In the case of the starter service, we have a term sheet that we've already negotiated with the BNSF Railway, and we know the exact costs. And we have it inked if we sign it this year. And uh it looks like we're gonna have something agreed to this month in April with RTD and all the partners. Those operating costs are are already locked in with the BNSF Railway, and we move straight to design. And we focused on utilizing existing freight class one corridors and existing tracks that we are going to lease from the class one railways for delivering service. There is no need for right-of-way acquisition. We do not need to use eminent domain or condemnation. And so we sort of flipped the fast tracks model on its head. Fast tracks sold a great vision, and then they went to planning. We've done our planning and now we're ready to go and deliver.

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Stations would be built along existing tracks, often near historic railroad depots. In Boulder, that's the Boulder Junction area near 30th and Pearl. Longmont Station would be downtown in a planned hub that includes a new campus for Front Range Community College. Louisville Station would also be near downtown, where BNSF tracks currently run. Expect to see and hear more about front range passenger rail, including more details on the sales tax and planned stations in coming months.

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We have a station area team that is working with the local municipalities to help come up with the descriptions, the narratives, and the concept drawings of stations in all of the communities. Our technical team is taking our service development plan and turning it into a public-facing operating plan so that constituents are prospective voters in the district can have a clear understanding of what will be delivered if and when we pass a ballot measure. We continue to work with RTD and the BNSF Railway on delivery of the joint service train and completing that term sheet so that we can tell the voters in places like Boulder that we've got an inked deal to bring you service, regardless of the ballot measure. With the exception of my kids, for me, it's now sort of all consuming. And it's what I live, eat, breathe, think all the time. Actually, this this poster right here, that is a Southwest Chief poster. And on it, I have a couple autograph signatures. One is from the former Amtrak CEO and president Joe Boardman. He passed away a couple years ago. Legendary advocate of passenger rail. And something like Sal, we will bring a train to Pueblo. I keep that up there and I tell people I've got it signed and promised from 2014 we're gonna get this done.

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My full interview with Sal included discussions of weed, frisbee, and men in cute little hats. Find it at patreon.com/slash boulder frequency pod.