Using FasTracks as the springboard, a new nonprofit wants to have commuter rail lines operating along the entire Front Range -- from Cheyenne through Denver to Albuquerque -- in 10 years.
The new group, Front Range Commuter Rail, has two paying members: the Regional Tranportation District (RTD), which is giving $25,000, and the Cheyenne economic development organization, which gave $250. A conference on the idea is slated for June 11 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.
"This is something that we're very supportive of. RTD wouldn't run it, but it would dovetail with FasTracks," said RTD spokesman Scott Reed.
The group aims to gather money for a feasibility study of running commuter trains along existing commercial freight tracks that stretch from Wyoming through Fort Collins, downtown Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and into New Mexico.
The commuter rail system would pick up where FasTracks ends at the edges of the Denver metro area. FasTracks, approved by voters in November, is a $4.7 billion, 12-year construction project to lay 119 miles of rail by extending three lines and adding six more throughout Denver and its suburbs.
"For the last six months, I've been out beating the drums to see if anyone else thought it was a good idea besides myself," said Bob Briggs, a former state representative from Westminster who also served as an RTD board member. Briggs incorporated the nonprofit commuter rail group Dec. 2.
"There are a lot of people who think its time has come. I've had the opportunity to meet with [the Colorado Department of Transportation], our congressional delegation, the Denver chamber and economic development people. There's a lot of support for it out there."
Working alongside Briggs is Mary Blue, who stepped down as RTD's board chairwoman in November, and Gwen Anderson, who has championed the rebirth of Denver Union Station as a hub for public and private bus, rail and taxi systems.
The Cheyenne-Laramie County Corporation for Economic Development hopped on board almost as soon as its members heard about the effort, said Randy Bruns, the Wyoming agency's CEO.
"Cheyenne is very much a part of the Front Range economy," he said. "We pay a lot of attention to the Denver metro area and everything in between. It's the economic center of gravity and there's a tendency to look toward the center of gravity -- that's Denver. It only makes sense to us that we stay informed and get ourselves in as part of the conversation."
The idea of creating a commuter rail system extending along the Front Range, with spurs to Greeley, has been around for decades, but Briggs and other supporters say FasTracks has given it a new push.
"We have a broadening interest throughout the region into other parts of the state with the benefits of rail connections," Anderson said. "And we have this growing economic corridor that is becoming more of a force within the state and throughout the Western United States along the Front Range."
The group envisions the creation of a regional transportation authority that could ask voters within its district to increase taxes to pay for operation of the commuter rail system. It's assembling all the studies that have been done on such a system in preparation for a formal feasibility study.
"We hope to have it operating at the same time as FasTracks is done, about 2014," said Blue, the former RTD chairwoman.
"We're making a pitch to municipalities affected by this both inside and outside RTD. We're not competing with RTD. We'd be determining where the lines would be, where the stations would be. What you want is something that would be seamless for the passenger; at the most, they'd walk across the platform [to a FasTracks station]."
With the passage of FasTracks, RTD has launched discussions with Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific, which own the freight tracks, to buy tracks and maintenance yards in the Denver area for use by RTD and FasTracks.
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