Metro-area transit officials Thursday kicked the steel wheels on a Colorado-made commuter train that could be the model for FasTracks service to Boulder/Longmont and Denver International Airport.
Colorado Railcar of Fort Lupton brought two of its self-propelled diesel train cars to Union Station as part of an early sales pitch to the Regional Transportation District.
Over the next 12 years, RTD will build up to three commuter rail lines, requiring the purchase of dozens of train cars.
Colorado Railcar is the only U.S.-owned and -operated manufacturer of passenger cars, said Tom Janaky, vice president for sales and marketing.
The two cars showcased Thursday have been purchased by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority for use on a route between Miami and the Palm Beach area, Janaky said.
One is a double-decker dome car that seats 167 and the other a 74-seat single-level car.
“It’s terrific that it is a Colorado company doing this,” said Bill Elfenbein, chairman of RTD’s board of directors, as he toured the trains.
RTD also will benefit because Colorado Railcar’s technology is expected to be proven and well-accepted by the time the Denver-area transit agency puts bids out for commuter rail cars, Elfenbein said.
“You don’t want to be the first (customer),” he said.
Sitting in the double-decker dome car Thursday, RTD general manager Cal Marsella said, “It’s an extremely attractive and comfortable vehicle, with really significant capacity.”
The company’s self-propelled diesel commuter cars sell for between $2 million and $5 million apiece, Janaky said. For tourist railways in Alaska and elsewhere, Colorado Railcar also produces and rebuilds coach cars that are not self-powered.
A predecessor company had a deal in the 1990s to make rail cars for Philip Morris’ Marlboro excursion train for smokers, but the deal crumbled and the Colorado train builder dismantled the cars.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
