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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNews Release - Mail Packet - 10/27/2015 - Article From Darin Atteberry Dated October 13, 2015 From Coloradoan.Com Titled Fort Collins Train Crossing Will Soon See ReliefFort Collins train crossing will soon see relief Katie de la Rosa, Kdelarosa@coloradoan.com3:20 p.m. MDT October 13, 2015 A $14 million project is rerouting a bulk of traffic to Greeley. (Photo: Coloradoan library) 2021CONNECT 13TWEET 1LINKEDIN 14COMMENTEMAILMORE Rejoice Fort Collins motorists, by early next year the number of trains passing through – and blocking – Lemay and Riverside avenues will be reduced by 55 percent. Yes. You read that right. OmniTRAX, a Denver-based company that manages Great Western Railway, is working to restore an inactive railway from Windsor to Greeley. The $14 million project will reroute half of its train traffic away from Fort Collins, OmniTRAX CEO Kevin Shuba said Monday. "What is happening on Lemay won't still be happening," said David Arganbright, OmniTRAX vice president of governmental affairs. October 22, 2015 TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: Darin Atteberry FYI /sek Instead of Great Western connecting with the Union Pacific Railroad in Fort Collins, which regularly causes extensive delays at Lemay and Riverside, the trains will connect in Greeley, Shuba said. Instead of making the 19-mile trip to Fort Collins, operators will be looking at a 7-mile trek to Greeley. Great Western and Union Pacific are working with the Federal Railroad Administration to get the change approved. Construction on the track should be complete in November, but it won't be operational until January at the earliest and April at the latest. Some trains will continue to use the stretch of Fort Collins track because Great Western also switches with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway, which has a switchyard at Lemay Avenue and Vine Drive. On the track that runs parallel to Riverside Avenue, one train passes each day, Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said. Still, there's an average of nearly three delays daily, with slow speed and switching being factors. The average wait time at Riverside and Lemay was 5 minutes, 25 seconds in 2014, said city traffic engineer Joe Olson. But some Coloradoan readers have often complained of waits that reach upwards of 35 minutes. In 2007, trains came through town on this track just three times a week. News of this project resurfaced during a meeting of state and local elected officials and railroad representatives at the Coloradoan on Monday to discuss train issues in Northern Colorado.