The news broke in July 2020 with an article in the Colorado Sun titled “Trains could return to Colorado’s Tennessee Pass, rumble through Leadville under pair of proposals”. Reporter Jason Blevins wrote in part “A billionaire-backed agricultural outfit in southeast Colorado and a fledgling oil railroad project in Utah want to run trains on Union Pacific’s long dormant tracks between Cañon City and Dotsero.”
Since then locals and a multitude of groups have organized a resistance to this project.
Here are links to several news articles about this subject:
Chaffee County Times, Jan 3, 2021, “Union Pacific leases out Tennessee Pass line”
Chaffee County Times, Jan 6, 2021, “Rails could rattle across Buena Vista streets once again”
These are just some of the news articles about this proposed project. My opinion is that an active rail road no longer suits the Arkansas Valley and the towns of Buena Vista, Salida, Leadville, Avon, Edwards, Eagle, Gypsum, and many others would have serious negative impacts. Safety and traffic at the rail road crossings is at the front of my mind. Buena Vista has just four rail road crossings, and a single train with 100 rail cars could easily block all four crossings at the same time crating a traffic nightmare. Many of the high school students leave campus during lunch and cross the tracks (not at a road crossing) to get lunch at one of the restaurants on the highway. Pedestrians cross the rail road tracks in many informal locations to access businesses, parks, and to get around town. Rafters and kayakers walk along the rail road tracks in Browns Canyon National Monument to scout rapids and set up safety for technical rapids. It will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to repair the long out of commission train tracks to make them safe and improve the many rail road crossings.
Stay informed and share your thoughts.