Owners of Pueblo Union Depot want to make it a train station again. Here's how it'd work

The last passengers traveling by train from Pueblo’s Union Depot left the station in 1972. More than 50 years later, the building’s owners want the depot to again be used as a train station.

Planners have been working for years on a design for a new train station in downtown Pueblo and unveiled preliminary renderings for the station design in February.

That design is still in its preliminary phases and it will be years before trains come to Pueblo.

What's already been done to bring a working train station to Pueblo

WSP, a multinational engineering and design firm, has been working with Pueblo County for the past few years. Through an extensive public feedback process, the firm identified the most ideal site for a station, which was in the historic neighborhood of downtown Pueblo.

Preliminary renderings were unveiled in February and feature a building with three stories for multiple uses. The contemporary design hangs over the railroad tracks and includes space for retail shops, a passenger waiting zone and a restaurant.

Staff working on the project described it at a work session with county commissioners last week. They said it is a multi-purpose community facility that isn’t just for train service.

More: Proposed train station would bring passenger service to Pueblo for first time in decades

The new train station site would be constructed on land owned by the Koncilja family. Brothers Jim and Joe Koncilja also own the Union Depot building.

Pueblo County has paid WSP approximately $680,000 so far and there is $265,608 remaining on the contract, according to County Manager Sabina Genesio. All of that money comes from ballot issue 1A funding that voters approved in 2016.

The rest of the contract with WSP will bring the station design to 30% completion, project manager Bryan Robinson said at last week's work session.

Why the Konciljas want the new station at Union Depot

Jim and Joe Koncilja have owned the Pueblo Union Depot for the past few decades. The law offices of Koncilja & Koncilja are across B Street from the historic structure.

Jim Koncilja told the Chieftain they have been in discussions with the project's planners since April 2021, but thought that the renderings for the station, publicized earlier this year, “didn’t fit into the historic fabric of Union Avenue.”

The brothers contacted Tryba Architects, a Denver-based firm that led the architectural and interior renovation at Denver’s historic Union Station. Koncilja said that they paid the firm “less than $10,000” to come down to Pueblo and develop a counter-proposal for the use of the building.

Koncilja also said that the cost of constructing a new station would be far more than re-adapting Union Depot for its original purpose. The building has offices and residences on the upper floors and the bottom floor is an event venue.

Koncilja said that there would not need to be extensive renovations to the Union Depot itself, which he envisions would remain under the family's ownership.

“This could all be worked out with a leasing agreement — everything is a matter of reducing it to writing,” Koncilja said.

“We're certainly not in a position to install railroad track and platforms. You know, those are very expensive propositions. But, in terms of the structure itself, it was built as a train station by a consortium of three railroads," he said.

"I believe that it would be better to have service returned to the depot than to build a new building that is going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money for a limited return," Koncilja said.

What Pueblo County commissioners said about the proposal

County commissioners seemed amenable to Koncilja’s idea at Thursday's work session.

“This makes more sense, using the train depot as the train depot,” board chair Epimenio “Eppie” Griego said.

Commissioners Zach Swearingen and Daneya Esgar suggested that WSP and Tryba Architects could collaborate moving forward. Kathleen Fogler with Tryba shared during her presentation that the two firms have collaborated in the past.

“There's a lot of similar threads through the ideas of both of these concepts and I’d hate to just cut off work that's been happening, but maybe bringing folks together to work together to re-examine is what my thought process (is),” Esgar said.

Robinson did not respond to a request for comment prior to the Chieftain’s deadline.

Why resume train service to Pueblo?

Bringing back passenger train service to Pueblo has been discussed for decades and was championed by former county commissioner and State Rep. Sal Pace.

Train service along the Front Range could help alleviate traffic along Interstate 25, advocates say. It’s also a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation that could benefit commuters and tourists alike.

Current estimates for the long-distance Amtrak service suggested the service will draw approximately 15-20 passengers per day, Robinson said. Pueblo would be on the lowest tiers of passenger service, so no paid staff would be required.

On the other hand, Front Range rail service is expected to generate more traffic than Amtrak. A study from the Colorado Department of Transportation is in the works and will give planners more insights on the expected passenger demand in Pueblo.

What train service could come to Pueblo?

Designers are considering two possible uses of the train station that could resume passenger train service in Pueblo. One possibility is re-routing or branch service linking Pueblo to one of Amtrak’s cross-country routes, the Southwest Chief.

The Southwest Chief runs between Chicago and Los Angeles, with Colorado stops in La Junta and Lamar. The route spans eight states, over 2,000 miles and can take at least 43 hours to travel from end to end.

There’s also potential for passenger service along Colorado’s Front Range, linking cities along the I-25 corridor from Fort Collins to Trinidad with a passenger train.

There’s a Front Range Passenger Rail District whose board of directors includes several representatives from Pueblo, including Pace, Esgar and Pueblo City Councilor Dennis Flores. The district board meets regularly.

How the project could be funded

The total price for the project is unclear and will be narrowed down in the next planning phases, Robinson said at the work session.

Preliminary estimates for the new building's construction range from $12 million up to $40 million or more.

Genesio, the Pueblo County manager, said that the county could apply to the federal government to fund the investment in railroad infrastructure.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Could Pueblo's historic Union Depot be a train station again?