The future passenger train service linking Front Range cities will be named the Colorado Connector, Gov. Jared Polis and state rail district officials announced Monday.
They selected that name after more than 25,000 Coloradans voted in a statewide public contest to help name the Front Range Passenger Rail train that state officials plan to launch by 2029.
Polis and Front Range Passenger Rail District general manager Sal Pace, a former state lawmaker and Pueblo County Commissioner, announced the name at Denver Union Station, where they promoted the train as a way to increase transportation options for residents, workers, and visitors by linking cities from Fort Collins to Trinidad along the Interstate 25 corridor.
The voters chose from four finalist options that officials had selected after months of brainstorming and vetting for possible trademark infringements: Colorado Connector (CoCo), Colorado Range, Rangelink, and Front Range Express Destinations (FRED).
Colorado Connector, or CoCo for short, is meant to convey to prospective riders that it will be “a train that brings communities together and makes travel easier, faster, and less stressful,” according to the
Colorado voters in Front Range counties may be asked to weigh in again on a possible sales tax ballot measure to raise funds for the multi-billion-dollar rail project. Pace said a decision on whether a half-cent tax increase will appear on the November ballot could be made as late as August. State officials were refining a proposal that would give municipalities along the 180-mile I-25 corridor shares of the revenues raised for 25 years, ranging from $1.5 million to $4 million a year based on population, to help fund local train-related development projects.
State officials are also counting on funds from the metro Denver Regional Transportation District and a state fee on rental cars to launch a Front Range train “starter service” linking Denver, Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins.
The project depends on an agreement with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway for sharing the existing tracks with freight trains.
Front Range passenger rail supporters have been holding public meetings in Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Denver to promote the planned train service. In the coming weeks, the rail district officials will host in Longmont (April 8), Boulder (April 15), and Westminster (April 29). Working with Commuting Solutions, a regional transportation advocacy group, they’ll provide project updates and seek input from residents, business owners, and community leaders “to help shape the future of the proposed train service,” district officials said in a statement on Monday.
