High‐Speed Rail Feasibility Study Executive Summary

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  Transportation Economics & Management Systems, Inc (TEMS) ; Quandel Consultants, LLC ; GBSM, Inc
• Corporate Contributors:
  Rocky Mountain Rail Authority
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Business Models Feasibility Analysis High Speed Rail Rail Transit
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Right Statement:
  Public Domain
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Rocky Mountain Rail Authority
• Abstract:
  This executive summary finds that high-speed rail is feasible in Colorado under Federal Railroad Administration criteria, focusing on the state’s two principal corridors: I-25 from Fort Collins to Pueblo and I-70 from Denver International Airport to Eagle County Airport. It evaluates highway, greenfield, and existing rail alignments and compares diesel, electric rail, and magnetic levitation technologies across a range of service concepts.
  
  The summary concludes that Colorado’s combination of Front Range population density and mountain tourism creates a viable high-speed rail market, but that full-system concepts were not feasible until the analysis was narrowed to core segments and mixed-technology options. That process yielded eight feasible alternatives. Although maglev was evaluated, especially for the steeper I-70 corridor, the selected FRA Developed Option was a 220-mph very high-speed electric train on the I-70 highway right-of-way and I-25 unconstrained routes because it produced the strongest overall operating and cost-benefit performance.
  
  The study concluded that I-25 alone could support a 110-mph diesel service, but when linked to the I-70 DIA–Eagle corridor, the combined system could support 220-mph electric rail. The article further emphasized that the I-70 corridor remained the key engineering challenge because of multiple 7 percent grades, while ridership in both corridors was strong enough to support frequent service and the overall implementation period was estimated at 12 to 15 years.
  
  Overall, the executive summary presents high-speed rail as a significant long-term transportation and economic development opportunity for Colorado, while making clear that further corridor refinement, environmental review, and implementation planning would still be required.
  
  
• Content Notes:
  Cite as: Transportation Economics & Management Systems, Inc., Quandel Consultants, LLC, & GBSM Inc. (2010, March). High-speed rail feasibility study: Executive summary. Rocky Mountain Rail Authority.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  Federal Aviation Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e7379446bae828bbb2ff4b120cf9f7f38a2ca1af802524f80c59c76121fbb929a1b2b628566eaff18123189ecd1b156f1f2569bebe4b87bd043ad172b9f3bc9a
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/89766/dot_89766_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.60 MB ]