There may be a train from Denver to Boulder and Longmont this decade after all.
The Regional Transportation District’s plan to build a commuter rail line between those cities, part of the mega 2004 FasTracks program, famously hit the skids in the early 2010s after cost overruns pushed a completion date into the 2040s.
Now, RTD, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Front Range Passenger Rail District are working together to start service between Denver and Fort Collins with stops in between by Jan. 1, 2029. An early analysis presented to the RTD board this week put start-up costs between about $800 million and $900 million for three round trips a day.
That’s a far cry from RTD’s initial plan to offer service every 15 minutes at peak times. But, in the eyes of some board members, it’s a lot better than nothing.
“It’s very exciting,” RTD board member Karen Benker, a Longmont resident who’s long supported the Northwest Rail Project, said at the meeting.
Several major questions remain unanswered, however, around total costs, potential revenue and responsibilities. Still, several RTD directors said the joint venture is the agency’s best option for completing the line that’s already nearly a decade overdue and has tainted its reputation among taxpayers and community leaders across the region.
“Is it perfect from an RTD vision of what Northwest Rail was supposed to be? No, it's not,” said board member Vince Buzek of Westminster, another long-time champion of the project. “But the alternative is no train. So I think it's really important to continue these discussions.”
State investment is the reason for Northwest Rail’s improving fortunes.
For years, frustration over RTD’s project delays manifested in public derision from Denver’s most prominent TV anchor, angry local officials, or in Gov. Jared Polis’ case, public comments pressuring RTD to fulfill its promise to voters but declining to try to provide new state money.
The governor’s position eventually evolved. In 2024, he signed bills that created new fees on rental cars and oil and gas that will pour tens of millions of dollars a year into public transit and rail projects across the state.
Along with that new money came the requirement that RTD, CDOT and the Front Range Passenger Rail District work together to develop a plan to establish service by 2029. The state also landed a $66 million federal grant and will use $27 million in its own money to upgrade part of the rail line to carry the trains.
“The time for complaining about FasTracks not being in place is over,” Polis said in October.
The Denver to Fort Collins section is meant to be the first phase of the larger Front Range Passenger Rail line that will connect Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, and smaller cities in between.
Front Range rail officials are preparing to present to voters a 2026 sales tax ballot measure to raise more funds to build out the entire line and ramp up service.
In the meantime, big questions remain about money and responsibility
RTD board members expressed concern about a lawsuit filed in federal court that could unwind the rental car fee — meant, in part, for transit projects — that is forecast to collect more than $50 million next year and grow from there. A state official told the board that the fee is already being collected even as litigation continues.
Federal support for the project is also unclear. The state also had high hopes for big federal dollars under President Biden. The Trump administration, though, has announced it’s reviewing federal money already pledged for other rail projects and has already targeted other transit projects. So far, money for Colorado transit projects seems untouched.
The financial analysis of the joint service plan presented to the RTD board this week did not factor in any future federal grants. Still, rail officials “remain positive that additional funding through the [Bipartisan Infrastructure Law] or other means will be available in the future” for the full project, Front Range Passenger Rail District spokeswoman Nancy Burke wrote in an email.
Another open question is what BNSF Railway, which owns the physical track on which trains would run, will charge for access. RTD’s initial gross underestimate in past years is a key reason why its project was delayed by decades in the first place.
RTD board members also worried about what would happen if start-up costs ballooned unexpectedly again, and which governmental entity would be responsible for making up the difference. It’s also uncertain how much revenue each entity would contribute. Several said they wanted to see detailed cost and revenue figures before committing their support for the joint venture.
“I really want to do it,” said board member Chris Nicholson. “But we’ve got to nail down all the details, at least, for me to be able to say ‘Yes.’”
