Front Range rail update renews Trinidad stop push

Trinidad remains outside the core Front Range Passenger Rail route, even as Las Animas County was asked to absorb another update on a possible stop and the funding politics behind it. Luis Lopez II, the district treasurer and a former county commissioner, met with county officials on Tuesday, June 17, to outline the project’s future plans, support for a Trinidad stop and talk of a possible tax initiative.

The district behind the project was created by the Colorado Legislature in Senate Bill 21-238 in 2021. That law gave the Front Range Passenger Rail District authority to plan, design, develop, finance, construct, operate and maintain a passenger rail system along the Interstate 25 corridor. District materials describe it as Colorado’s largest special district, with a 24-member board and an initial budget of $4 million.

For Las Animas County, the central issue is not a finished rail line but the gap between the pitch and the payoff. The district’s near-term mission is to secure sustainable funding for service from Fort Collins to Pueblo, and its public materials list proposed stops in Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Denver Union Station, South Metro, Castle Rock, Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Trinidad is not on that near-term list, which leaves the city as a possible future extension point rather than a guaranteed stop.

The county also faces a financing question that could reach voters. The district is authorized to seek voter approval for taxes, assessments or bonds, and reports in 2026 said leaders were leaning toward a ballot tax measure, possibly a half-cent sales tax, for a November 2026 vote. Sal Pace told lawmakers the agency was preparing for a ballot measure and needed public engagement before referring one to voters. District schedule materials have discussed a 2029 starter service.

The rail effort already has a local funding history. The Southwest Chief & Front Range Passenger Rail Commission received a $548,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration for a service development plan from Pueblo to Fort Collins, with $3,377,000 in matching funds from local partners including the Colorado Department of Transportation, the commission itself, ColoRail, the City and County of Pueblo and the City of Trinidad.

A March 2026 listening session in Pueblo also drew support from a Las Animas County commissioner, who backed the long-range plan as a possible benefit for rural southern Colorado. That leaves Trinidad in a familiar position: close enough to matter, but still far from a scheduled stop, and dependent on funding decisions that have not yet been made.