“The I?25 and I?70 corridors not only have the conventional intercity travel patterns of business, commuter and social trip making, but its demand is overlaid by very substantial, highly focused flows of local communities along I?25 and out-of-state tourists from Denver International Airport to the resorts and vacation spots along both the I-70 and I-25 corridors”, said RMRA in the official statement. The 18?month feasibility study focused on determining whether options exist that are capable of meeting Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) technical, financial and economic criteria for high-speed rail feasibility.

The study considered a full range of technology options from conventional Amtrak service (with maximum speeds of 79 mph) through high-speed train and maglev technologies that have maximum speeds of up to 300 mph. It also evaluated a comprehensive set of routes including highway routes, existing and abandoned rail routes, and completely new Greenfield routes. General station locations were also evaluated based on potential market-demand and existing local planning efforts.

Within the I-70 Corridor, high-speed rail service would connect Colorado’s most populated region and Denver International Airport and Eagle County Airport to the mountains and the Western Slope, supporting some of Colorado’s largest economic drivers – tourism, agriculture, and energy.

Within the I-25 Corridor, high-speed rail service would connect Denver with the growing technology-driven and military communities in northern and southern Colorado, as well as with other burgeoning communities along the Front Range, and would generally focus on the use of existing rail corridors.

The implementation plan identifies four potential phases for having high-speed rail operational in Colorado as early as 2021.

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