The Burlington Northern Railroad has weighed in on commuter-rail options in the Northwest Corridor. Here’s the (no pun intended) money quote:
. . . while BNSF’s requirements would not prohibit RTD from operating EMU on the NWR Corridor, implementing them would significantly increase the cost of operating EMU on the NWR Corridor and would far exceed the project’s current budget to provide Commuter Rail service from downtown Denver to Longmont.
The project team drove that point home in a presentation to the RTD Board on August 14. That’s the hurdle EMU supporters will have to overcome, and time is running short. The NW Corridor project team is planning to hold a series of public workshops about vehicle technology in September; when dates/times/locations are announced, we’ll let you know.
The good news is that the public comments to date are running strongly in favor of EMUs over DMUs. If you want to add your voice to this chorus, submit a comment here (if you haven’t already done so).
