NEW FEASIBLE ELEVATED RAIL ALTERNATIVE

for the I-70 Mountain Corridor

 

Fast Light Innovative Regional Train

 

Overview of Swiss Stadler “FLIRT”

Electric Multiple Unit Train

(new in 2004) 

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 Stadler FLIRT

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Stadler FLIRT Elevated Rail Alternative Attributes:

 

  • 100 mph (160 km/h) Maximum continuous speed, on continuous grades less than 5%. Train is capable for speeds up to 120 mph (200km/h)
     
  • 65 mph (105 km/h) speed on 7% grade over 20 miles, 50 mph (80 km/h) speed on 7% grade in continuous operation (limitation due to thermal loading on electrical traction equipment with all 154 seats occupied)
     
  • The above speed limitations due to thermal loading on electrical traction equipment have no relevance for current I-70 alignment (thermal loading is not critical)
     
  • 9% grade capability for short distances (approx. 300 yards, due to adhesion limits for safe braking and reliable starting)
     
  • Minimum horizontal curve radius, 150 meters (approx. 500 feet) on primary alignment, 80 meters (approx 260 feet) in rail yard
     
  • Braking systems include: regenerative braking (returns braking energy to power network); electro-resistive braking (saves wear on pneumatic braking components); pneumatically actuated disc brakes (safe, reliable and quiet); track brake (aka. rail grabber)
     
  • Pneumatic braking system designed fail-safe and equipped with proven, reliable and redundant components
     
  • Power inverter configured to network supply (network can be AC or DC at any typical voltage or frequency) plus multiple power systems can also be simply accommodated
     
  • Power supplied from catenary or third rail (or both e.g. dual voltage network)
     
  • 154 Seats with equipment storage room and toilet (example train with 3 cars, 4 entrance platforms and 1800mm seating groups)
     
  • Walk/roll-through end-to-end passenger compartment with platform-height floor (boarding and alighting without steps)
     
  • Currently operating in winter conditions in the Alps on standard gauge and without a cog system (over 330 trains sold between Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Algiers, Poland and Finland –status from June, 2007)

Roomy design for even greater passenger comfort

 

FLIRT is a cost-effective, use-optimised vehicle concept featuring proven, tested system modules. Its great advantage is clear:

 

The unit can be fully and completely adapted to the customer’s regional or urban transit needs.

 

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On-Board Equipment Storage Room 

 

 

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 Platform Height Floor for

Roll-on/Roll-off Equipment & Baggage Access 

 

 

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Toilet Facility 

 

 

Passenger

 

Passenger Compartment

 

 

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Business Compartment

 

 

Elevated Rail Guideway:

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  • Elevated Guideway to be used in or near CDOT Right of Way in general, but flexible in appropriate locations
  • An Elevated Guideway avoids the unacceptable large footprint, construction disturbance area and other related impacts on adjacent terrain, water bodies, wetlands, communities, historic properties and wildlife associated with Highway Expansion
     
  • An Elevated Guideway can be located away from snowslide, mudslide and rockfall hazards, and can facilitate better highway snow removal
     
  • Allows for 12 to 14 Stations at towns and resorts throughout the mountain corridor
     
  • Construction cost of a Rail Elevated Guideway system can be less than a “Context Sensitive” six lane Highway (Glenwood Canyon style design)

  • Elevated Guideway can be prefabricated off-site and delivered to the mountain corridor when necessary for construction

  • Construction can be fairly rapid and much less disruptive to I-70 traffic than highway expansion
     

  • The Elevated Guideway and Rail System can be constructed NOW with no Research and Development, testing or demonstration project and no need to wait for the development of future technologies 

Economically Feasible
 

Cost Study Results:

 

  • Preliminary Estimated Capital Costs for Rail Transit System including, trains, electrification, stations, Inter Mountain Connection segment (Eagle County Airport to Vail), 40% Contingency and Draft PEIS Highway “Minimum Action” components (excluding Vail Pass Auxiliary Lanes)
     
  • Golden/Lakewood to Vail - Approximate Capital Costs $3.7 billion
     
  • Annual Operating Costs - Approximately $50 Million
  • Fare average - About $0.10 to $0.12 per passenger mile
  • Ridership, transit share of daily person trips - approximately 17% to 30% varying with location, day of week and season, although on Winter Saturdays during Peak Periods for Westbound travel, Rail Transit will carry person-trips equal to two or more lanes of highway
     
  • Costs developed from CDOT, FTA-funded Colorado Maglev Project, Stadler and other reputable construction estimating sources 

Funding Sources 

 

·        Fare Revenue:

Apply a portion of Fare Collections to Capital debt service after covering Maintenance & Operating costs, (fare average of less than12 cents/mile is estimated to generate sufficient revenue to pay for a substantial part of the capital cost)

 

·        Any combination of the following Transportation, Tourism and Development Taxes to fund a Statewide Rail Transportation Authority, Port Authority or Joint Powers Authority:

- Statewide Sales Tax

- Statewide Lodging Tax

- Dedicated Transportation Income Tax

- Statewide Real Estate Transfer Tax

- Statewide Development Impact Fees

- Statewide Vehicle Miles Traveled Fee
  (Flexible to include  Transit Development 
  and Operations)

- Statewide Fuel Tax
  (Flexible to include Transit Development

  and Operations)

 

·        Use of Flexible Federal Transportation funds

 

·        Capital Construction Bonds funded by Sales/Tourism Tax, Fare Revenues &  Federal Flexed funds

 

·        Federal Funds from new sources:

Earmarks, FTA New Starts, FRA High Speed Rail 

 

·        Toll Revenues (specifically dedicated to Transit Development from appropriate Highway corridors)

 

·        Local Funding & Public-Private Partnerships:

Local governments and private developers working together on Rail Systems, Rail Station and Transit Oriented Development projects  

 

·        TIFIA:

Transportation Infrastructure Finance and

Innovation Act of 1998

 

·        COPs:

Certificates of Participation

 

·        Colorado Senate  Bill 1:

10% or more for Strategic Transit Project Development

 

·        State Infrastructure Bank (SIB):

    • The SIB is an innovative, low interest revolving loan fund established by state legislation in 1998 and by resolution by the Colorado Transportation Commission in 1999 

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Benefits of Elevated Rail Transit 

Economic Benefits:

 

  • As a Transportation option to continued Highway Expansion, Rail Transit provides maximum economic feasibility and long-term economic efficiency 

  • Available Capital Funding for Highway Expansion
    • CDOT does not have present or future funding to meet Highway capacity requirements or even to maintain more than 60% of their Highway miles to appropriate quality standards
    • Future State and Federal Highway transportation dollars are estimated to be even more constrained than they are currently
       
    • Rail capital costs are lower than Highway Expansion costs, if the Highway is constructed according to CDOT/FHWA “Context-Sensitive Design” methods (as per Glenwood Canyon) 

·        Economic Sustainability

 

    • Future State and Federal transportation dollars are estimated to be even more constrained than they are currently
       
    • Highway Expansion ensures digging a deeper and deeper financial hole for preservation and maintenance
    • Rail Transit offers a positive fiscal obligation, not a negative one as Highway alternatives create due to the frequent and significant maintenance costs
       
  • Elevated Rail Transit provides a Travel Mode Choice that many Colorado residents and visitors will find more appealing than sitting in traffic or dealing with bad weather conditions
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit provides an economic choice since per trip ridership is far less expensive than the cost of automobile ownership, leasing or rental
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit provides the ability to Connect to Mountain Corridor, Metro Denver and Front Range Transit Networks to enhance transportation options for Colorado Residents and Visitors
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit provides Superior Congestion Relief
    • Short term: shorter construction time frame and minimal traffic interruption during the construction period compared to 15 years of intense construction congestion for Highway Expansion alternatives
       
    • Long term: Highway economic life to 2030, Rail Transit to 2055 and beyond
       
  • Elevated Rail Transit minimizes indirect costs to the public and local governments related to Highway Expansion impacts such as increased vehicle miles traveled, increased parking facility requirements, rural community congestion, air pollution, noise and back country development pressure and highway driven sprawl
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit provides Superior Energy Resilience through the utilizing of more efficient and diverse energy production technologies than individual vehicles powered by internal combustion motors and will be more resistant to oil price increases and economic downturns

 Environmental Benefits:

 

  • Elevated Rail Transit facilitates Sustainability by Minimizing Irreversible and Irretrievable commitments for consumption of non-renewable resources, especially the burning of fossil fuels that impact global climate conditions
     
  • Wind Farms can provide electricity for Rail Transit decreasing the need for fossil fuel consumption
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit will have Minimal Impact on water, stream and wildlife ecology in the mountain corridor compared to Highway Expansion
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit will have Minimal Impact on historic and cultural values throughout the mountain corridor compared to Highway Expansion
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit will facilitate health, air quality and safety improvements throughout the mountain corridor far better than Highway Expansion
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit will facilitate faster construction, thus greatly reducing the construction impacts relating to Highway Expansion alternatives
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit will maintain the Aesthetic and Scenic values of corridor communities (no Sound Walls in towns and no “T-REX" caliber construction and congestion impacts in Mountains)
     
  • Elevated Rail Transit will improve mountain air quality and visibility by reducing motor vehicle emissions
  • Elevated Rail Transit will optimize the application of the Context Sensitive Solutions process by minimizing impacts on adjacent terrain, water bodies, wetlands, communities, historic properties and wildlife compared with Highway Expansion
  • Elevated Rail Transit will effectively address Environmental Justice in the mountain corridor by facilitating inter-regional and local job access for low-income and non-driver travel

 Where do we go from here?

  • The Colorado Department of Transportation, the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the I-70 Mountain Coalition, the Front Range jurisdictions, the Mountain Corridor jurisdictions and the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority jurisdictions must cooperate in a joint effort to determine the best transportation solution for the I-70 mountain corridor that is beneficial to all Stakeholders.
      
  • The Final PEIS must prioritize an effective and efficient means of moving people in the mountain corridor and provide Colorado's residents and visitors with an option to sitting in traffic.

  • The Final PEIS must prioritize innovative rail transit alternatives that focus on moving people and not just on moving vehicles.

  • A Rail Feasibility Study of the New Rail Alternative is essential, and should commense as early as possible.
  • It is imperative that this Rail Feasibility Study be INDEPENDENT, continually and professionally peer-reviewed, totally transparent and with full participation of Front Range and Mountain Corridor jurisdictions, agencies and the general public.
  • The Colorado Department of Transportation must look forward to the 21st Century and Sustainable Transportation Solutions instead of looking backwards to the “business as usual” Highway Expansion solutions of the 20th Century. 

 


A Total Transit System must be Developed for the Mountain Corridor

 

The train itself is but one component of an entire transit system for the mountain corridor.

 

New Elevated Rail Transit System Alternative:

Significant New Elements in all Five Components of the System must be developed.

 

1.  Technology and Alignment

·        Rail Vehicle, Technology and Power

·        Control & Power Systems

·        Guideway Structural Solutions

·        Route, Alignment and Station Location

·        Phasing

·        Multimodal Elements

 

2.  Impact Analysis / Avoidance and Mitigation

·        Air Quality

·        Water Quality

·        Noise

·        Wildlife

·        Community

·        Historic Properties

·        Economic

·        Construction

·        Safety

·        Visual

·        Mobility & Access

·        Land Use

 

3.  Data Evaluation

·        Selection of Analytical Methods

·        Rail Transit and Traffic Modeling

·        Visualization

·        Land Use Compatibility

 

4.  Economic Evaluation

·        Funding Information and Options

 

5.  Institutional Changes and New Processes

·        Transit Oriented Development

·        Pedestrian/Bicycle Friendly Resort Environments

·        Local Public Transportation Enhancements

Express Lanes can be added later if necessary.

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