Colorado Pacific Railroad still wants to abandon approximately 26.8 miles of tracks through Rio Grande County, but it no longer is looking to convert the abandoned tracks into a rails to trails corridor as it initially considered.
The railroad made its official request for track abandonment from Milepost (“MP”) 272.5 to MP 299.3 in a July 1 filing with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.
“CXRG initially considered the possibility of the Line being converted to a multi-use trail pursuant to the National Trails System Act (the “Act”) and the Board’s regulations. However, after further consideration and input from affected parties, CXRG no longer desires to pursue that possibility. Similarly, CXRG does not believe that the right-of-way is suitable for use for other public purposes,” the railroad said in its STB filing.
Colorado Pacific purchased the former San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad through a bankruptcy court proceeding in November 2022. In its STB filing, it said the section of railroad tracks it wants to abandon hasn’t been used for rail service since 2007.
In its STB filing, Colorado Pacific said the section of track it wants to abandon does not appear to contain any federally granted right-of-way. It also noted Rio Grande County’s objection to the conversion of the line to a public trail and that its predecessor, San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, sold some of the land making up the right-of-way to adjacent landowners.
“Specifically, in 2009 SLRG conveyed the land underlying the Line between MP 296+2815.05 and MP 299+1699.34 to an adjacent landowner. Later, in 2017, SLRG conveyed 3.60 acres of land located between MP 284.923 and MP 294.624 to another adjacent landowner. In each transaction SLRG retained a perpetual, exclusive easement to provide common carrier railroad service over the tracks located on the conveyed property,” according to the filing.
San Luis Valley Great Outdoors was a willing partner for a rails-to-trails conversion as part of its Heart of the Valley trail concept. Back in 2022, SLV GO was awarded a $100,000 state grant to pay for development of a master plan for the trail.
Asked for reaction to Colorado Pacific’s decision not to pursue a multi-use recreational trail, SLV GO! Executive Director Mick Daniel said, ”Just disappointed that we did not have the chance to work with the community of Rio Grande county to have a discussion about this. There was initial opposition from some adjacent land owners and ultimately the county commissioners without the opportunity for larger community conversation.”