Proposed train station would bring passenger service to Pueblo for first time in decades
A proposed new train station could bring train travelers to Pueblo for the first time since passenger rail service to the city stopped in 1971.
Rail service was essential to the growth of Pueblo and many western cities and towns in the late 19th century and Pueblo Union Depot, when built by five competing railway companies in 1890, was the hub of downtown life, according to Larry Green, a railroad history expert who works with the Pueblo Historical Society.
Bryan Robinson, the project manager, told the Pueblo City Council at a work session last week that the guiding principle for the potential station has been “where the river meets the rails.”
The Arkansas River now flows next to many of Pueblo’s railroad tracks through downtown, but the river once passed through downtown around the area of the historic Pueblo Riverwalk, Green said. The river was re-routed after a catastrophic flood in 1921 that also wiped out many railroad tracks and bridges.
The railroad companies built temporary track so they could resume service after the flood, but it took years for permanent replacement infrastructure to be finalized, Green said. The flood also wreaked havoc on the interior of Pueblo Union Depot, which was filled with mud. The first floor, which once held separate waiting rooms for men and women, was reconfigured after the flood.
Robinson told city council that the proposed new station is designed to pay homage to Pueblo’s natural features and history.
“As a design team, this whole time, we've been asking ourselves the question of how do we make a station that's more than a station that really tells that story, and sort of adds to the great legacy and history of Pueblo? How do we make a modern design that really speaks and talks fully to that great history?” Robinson said.
Concept designs for the project include floorplans of the station, as well as key measurements and potential building supplies.
The station could be three stories tall, with the potential for retail on the first floor, a gallery space on the second and a social restaurant/bar area on top where passengers could wait for their trains.
“We really want this building to be a mixed-use building: more than a station,” Robinson said. The interior spaces also could be rented for events, he said.
The station would be adjacent to the historic Pueblo Union Depot and nearby the Pueblo Heritage Museum and the outdoor rail museum.
The design links the railroad to the river with a swooping canopy linking the station with the railroad tracks.
The process of designing the station is approximately 10% complete and the firm is contracted to finish up to 30%, Robinson said.
Pueblo County has allocated more than $900,000 in 1A bond funds to the station design and Southwest Chief study, according to the website. Public Information Officer Adam Uhernik told the Chieftain that all of the funding for the project is coming from 1A funds and that no additional funding has been appropriated.
A new, four-story parking garage is also included in the station renderings and would include a direct walkway from long-term parking to the train platforms.
Project designers also have coordinated with the freight rail company Burlington-Northern Santa Fe Railway on track layout. BNSF owns most of the track that the Southwest Chief operates on in Colorado and New Mexico, according to a 2020 Amtrak press release.
Robinson last presented to city council and county commissioners in August 2022, when he updated local elected officials on the work that had been done in recent years to decide where the station could go and what it would look like.
Within 3-5 years, the train station could link Pueblo to the cross-country Southwest Chief that runs daily trains between Los Angeles and Chicago, Robinson said.
Ridership on the Southwest Chief increased by 65% from the 2021 fiscal year to 2022, but the amount of passengers had not returned to pre-pandemic totals.
The station also could eventually link Pueblo with rail service to other Front Range cities, but that’s more of a long-term goal.
The state legislature formed a commission in 2017 to study Front Range passenger rail and Southwest Chief service. Lawmakers also formed the Front Range Passenger Rail District, which first met in July 2022, to replace the commission.
Pueblo city councilor Dennis Flores is one of the representatives on the district board. He told the Chieftain that the commission used to report to the state government, but the district is more independent.
Two other Puebloans also are on the district board: former county commissioner and state lawmaker Sal Pace, a longtime advocate of passenger rail, and former state representative Daneya Esgar.
Flores said that he helped the district set up its own insurance with his experience in the industry.
Voters in the district, which potentially spans the Front Range corridor from the northern part of the state’s border to the southern edge, could be asked to approve taxes to help develop rail service.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Passenger rail in Pueblo could return after a four-decade absence
