Colorado Midland & Pacific’s request for expedited approval of a plan to restore rail service was nixed on Thursday by the Surface Transportation Board.
by Jason Blevins —
The Surface Transportation Board on Thursday rejected a plan by a rail operator to revive train traffic on Colorado’s mountainous Tennessee Pass Line.
Colorado Midland & Pacific Railway Company — a new division of Texas-based Rio Grande Pacific Corp. — asked the transportation board on Dec. 31, 2020 for streamlined approval of its plan to run trains on the long-dormant rail line between Gypsum and Cañon City. The railway operator asked for a class exemption from rigorous review because its proposal was “limited in scope.” The transportation board allows expedited class exemptions to new carriers like Colorado Midland & Pacific so they might acquire and operate railways to continue service for communities along the line.
A chorus of opposition from conservation groups and communities along the tracks in Eagle County and the Upper Arkansas River Valley’s Lake and Chaffee counties argued the proposal was hardly limited in scope and required intense environmental scrutiny.
Rio Grande Pacific Corp. is planning a new railroad in Utah to connect oil fields in the Uinta Basin with the national rail network. Communities along the dormant Tennessee Pass Line feared the company would route crude through the White River National Forest and along the Arkansas River through Buena Vista, Browns Canyon National Monument and Salida.
