Negotiations over Moffat Tunnel lease expected to end in coming weeks
Byron Hetzler/Sky-Hi Daily News
Nearly 100 years after it was first negotiated, a new contract for rail use of the Moffat Tunnel is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.
The Moffat Tunnel, which connects Gilpin and Grand counties, is the only functioning rail tunnel through the Continental Divide in Colorado.
The negotiations, between the state and Union Pacific, have been kept tightly under wraps but could include conversations around using the tunnel for freight and the state’s pursuit of passenger rail.
The state owns the tunnel, which was completed in 1928, and Union Pacific leases it for its tracks. Train operators, like Amtrak and BNSF, then pay to use the Union Pacific tracks.
Under the 1926 contract, originally negotiated with a predecessor of Union Pacific, the company pays $12,000 per year for use of the tunnel. It expires in January.
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At 9,200 feet, the 6.3 mile-long Moffat Tunnel is the highest railroad tunnel in the United States and the highest point on Amtrak’s national network.
There is also a parallel tunnel through the Moffat Tunnel used by Denver Water that isn’t part of the ongoing negotiations.
In 2023, Gov. Jared Polis created the Moffat Tunnel working group, a team of representatives from the Department of Transportation, Department of Local Affairs, the Public-Private Partnership Office at the Department of Personnel & Administration, and the Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
CDOT Senior Adviser John Putnam has led the negotiations for the state.
The original rail route across the Continental Divide ran from Pueblo to Grand Junction via the Arkansas River valley and Royal Gorge, over Tennessee Pass and following the Eagle River to the Colorado River, running through Glenwood Canyon and into Grand Junction.
The Moffat Tunnel cost nearly $24 million to build at the time, which would amount to approximately $450 million in 2024 dollars. The Floyd Hill improvement project, which began in 2023, is expected to cost $700 million.
It was funded by the Moffat Tunnel Improvement District, which includes Denver, Grand County, Moffat County, Routt County and portions of Eagle, Gilpin, Boulder, Adams and Jefferson counties. The counties sold bonds to fund construction, and the project was paid off by 1983.
