Passenger rail group decries feds’ funding promise

Colorado’s most active – and vocal – group of passenger-rail advocates is raising concerns over the federal government’s decision to guarantee more than $300 million in funding for Denver’s Union Station project, saying the money will go to build “a train station without trains.”

“The 12 light rail trains per hour going toward downtown Denver will not access the present location behind Union Station. Nor will those light rail trains access the new

train station at all. And the ski train is gone, too,” trumpets a press release issued by ColoRail in the wake of last week’s announcement that the Federal Transit Administration will provide $304 million in loans to convert the historic train station Union into a regional “commuter rail hub.”

ColoRail, the Colorado Rail Passenger Association, has raised concerns about the new train station since the project was first conceived eight years ago. The inability to make easy connections quickly and easily is the group’s primary concern.

In May, the group filed a federal court lawsuit challenging redevelopment plans for Union Station, complaining that plans to sell of part of the 19.5-acre Union Station parcel for private development will cause difficulty for light rail passengers.

When the lawsuit was announced, Ira Schreiber, president of the rail-advocacy group, said the Union Station project’s original mission statement of convenient, passenger friendly multi-modal had transportation been abandoned.

One of ColoRail’s objections is that FasTracks light-rail passengers – including those using FasTracks’ West Corridor line, would be forced to walk a quarter-mile to reach Union Station from a platform that will be located near the freight train tracks west of the station. The platform would be served by buses, but those passengers heading for Union Station would be exposed to the elements during their trek to the station.” If a train station isn’t designed for the convenience of the passengers, what is it for?” asked ColoRail board member Edie Bryan after Friday’s FTA announcement that the $304 million in federal money would be included in the Obama administration’s 2011 budget proposal.

Bryan, a former Lakewood City Councilwoman and former member of the Regional Transportation District board of directors, said the inability to make connections “quickly and easily” remains one of ColoRail’s major concerns.

Light-rail passengers would endure rain, wind, snow, hail and scorching summertime temperatures to make their way from the out-lying platform to the station and rail passengers with limited mobility would face even tougher challenges, Bryan said.

The group also is concerned about the Union Station project’s lack of planning for future capacity, partly because – after 5 years of construction – there would be no room for the trains going up into the mountains, a proposed train serving the Front Range or future high-speed rail service, according to the ColoRail statement.

“The whole plan is only planned for 20 years into the future, year 2030. Yet the historic Denver Union Station has served Denver well since 1881. The present building, built in 1914, has had only minor modifications,” the group said in the statement.

Schreiber said his group backs an alternative plan that he says would be more convenient for passengers and would cost millions less because it would eliminate what ColoRail calls “the cramped underground bus box.”

The issues raised aren’t new: ColoRail has been raising concerns about the new train station since the project was first conceived eight years ago, Schrieber said.

And ColoRail’s complaints extend to the design of the Union Station project.

“The proposed new station has a huge hole in the center of the roof.

Passengers will be exposed to Denver’s changing weather, even with the

expenditure of over $500 million of taxpayer dollars, not counting

interest payments. It looks like a yellow and white medicine capsule,” the group’s press release said.

Redevelopment of the train station is expected to cost about $478 million and is expected to be complete by 2014. It is the focal point of the FasTracks light rail project and is expected to serve as the centerpiece of a light rail/passenger rail/bus transit center.

FasTracks will cover about $208 million of the cost. The remainder will come from the federal government and local sources.