CHEYENNE — Wyoming should not miss the train if Colorado goes ahead with a proposed high-speed passenger rail system, a consultant says.
“It would be almost foolish not to work with them,” said David Simpson, a senior transportation planner with TranSystems of Kansas City, Mo., who is consulting with the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Colorado is considering investing more than $10 billion in commuter rail on the Front Range and into the mountains on Interstate 70, Simpson said. Promoters of the project envision a high-speed rail system from Casper to south of Albuquerque.
Building a high-speed commuter rail between Fort Collins and Cheyenne likely would cost about $1 million to $1.2 million a mile, Simpson told the Legislature’s Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Interim Committee last week.
State lawmakers authorized a study to look at commuter rail service from Casper through Cheyenne.
Pat Collins, assistant chief engineer for engineering and planning with WYDOT, said about half the study has been completed. A second phase of the study probably will begin early 2009, Collins said.
Researchers hope to have a firmer idea of what Colorado plans by then. The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority in Colorado began a year-long study in September to determine whether high-speed train along the Interstate 25 and I-70 corridors is feasible.
