Colorado leaders developing a Front Range passenger train service linking cities from Fort Collins to Trinidad are asking the public to vote on a name — choosing from four options — ahead of a possible sales tax ballot measure to fund the multi-billion-dollar project.
They unveiled the finalists following a dozen Front Range Passenger Rail District brainstorming sessions over two months that whittled down 100 ideas:
- Colorado Connector (CoCo)
- Colorado Ranger
- Rangelink
- Front Range Express Destinations (FRED)
“If there’s a clear winner, then we have an answer,” district director Sal Pace said, pointing to Amtrak’s new Mardi Gras Service twice-a-day trains linking Mobile, Alabama, with New Orleans. Those trains started Aug. 18, and ridership in the first five months exceeded the annual target.
“It’s a reminder to us about how important it is to come up with a good service name that really epitomizes Colorado and Colorado’s Front Range,” Pace said. “The name should be something the communities of the Front Range can relate to. It’s going to be the brand of the service. This is going to be a multi-generational service — not just for today’s Coloradans but our grandkids as well.”
Gov. Jared Polis will kick off the voting Monday morning. Coloradans can vote online at ridethefrontrange.com/namethetrain through March 23. Voters’ preference, combined with “public and stakeholder input gathered across the Front Range,” will help decide the name of the train, district spokeswoman Tara Trujillo said.
A decision on whether a half-cent tax increase will appear on the November ballot could be made as late as August, Pace said. The proposal that FRPRD officials are refining would give municipalities along the 180-mile 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.
Starting in 2029, a Front Range “starter service” linking Denver, Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins would rely on funds from the Regional Transportation District and Colorado’s fee on rental cars, Pace said. District officials have estimated the cost of the full Front Range service from Trinidad to Fort Collins at $2 billion to $14 billion, including annual operating and maintenance expenses of around $76 million.
Front Range trains would use existing tracks and right-of-ways and run at speeds up to 79 miles per hour, competitive with driving along Interstate 25, depending on traffic, according to district documents. District staffers have been considering ticket prices of around $12 to $15 for a one-way trip from Denver to Colorado Springs.
The names brainstorming was done with help from marketing firms and attorneys who vetted ideas that would have infringed on trademark protections. “The Colorado Eagle,” for example, reviving the name of a train that linked Denver and Pueblo half a century ago, clashed with the name of the Colorado Eagles, a minor league hockey team based in Loveland, and Amtrak’s Texas Eagle train linking Chicago and San Antonio.
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