Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad is planning to seek authorization from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to abandon a 26.55-mile stretch of rail tracks between Monte Vista and South Fork.
If all goes as planned, the railroad tracks would be removed with an intention to convert the right-of-way into a recreational trail, according to a Feb. 4 notification letter the railroad company sent Rio Grande County officials and state and federal agencies.
Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad took its name from San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad, which was acquired through federal bankruptcy court by KCVN LLC and its parent company, Soloviev Group. The Soloviev Group is the company of Stefan Soloviev, who is among the top 100 landowners in the country, including owning 408,000 acres in Colorado and a 122-mile shortline from Pueblo to Towner, Colorado.
In its letter of intent, the railroad said the section of track between milepost 272.75 through 299.30 in Rio Grande County “has not been used for deliveries to rail shippers since 2007 because there are no existing customers along this segment, and there is no prospect for the resumption of rail service over it for the foreseeable future.”
“Consequently,” the letter states, “CXRG and other local parties intend to remove the track and ties and dispose of or sell them, and to convert the right-of-way into a recreational trail.”
Enter SLV GO!
San Luis Valley Great Outdoors has been in conversations with Soloviev and his railroad management team in Colorado about the stretch of tracks through Rio Grande County. SLV GO! has on its drawing board a “Heart of the Valley Trail,” a 154-mile dream trail that would connect the communities of the Valley together that has the endorsement of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
SLV GO! Executive Director Mick Daniel said his conversations with Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad have revolved around ensuring the railroad serves both the Valley’s agricultural community and helps the Valley with its push to develop a more robust outdoor recreation economy.
“What we presented was a plan where recreation and the agricultural economy could potentially work really well together and we want to support the railroad in seeing that vision happen,” Daniel said.
“This has the opportunity for Rio Grande County to really develop an outdoor recreation economy around trails and specifically for those three communities, Monte Vista, Del Norte and South Fork,” he said.
SLV GO! has a track record of working with communities and private property owners on its trail projects. That experience will come into play once a filing is made to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and the federal board takes action on the request.
The federal Surface Transportation Board is the oversight agency for railroads and the rail tracks they operate on across America. However, once a section of tracks is “formally abandoned” through a proceeding with Surface Transportation Board, the tracks and right-of-way then become subject to applicable state and local laws.
Enter Rio Grande County
Like SLV GO!, the county government and municipal governments have been driving at their own ways to establish more outdoor recreation opportunities to help sustain the western end of the Valley.
Last year Rio Grande County adopted an updated set of land use regulations for campgrounds and RV Parks and has been promoting itself through an outdoor billboard campaign as a destination for outdoor enthusiasts.
It benefits from the Wolf Creek Ski area and the vast amount of federal and state forest lands and wildlife refuges that surround the county.
“This presents some great opportunities I think, but we know there are also great challenges associated with it and our (county) commissioners are keen to understand what concerns from the public there may be,” Rio Grande County Administrator Skip Schoen said in an episode of The Valley Pod that streams Monday.
The railroad under its previous ownership attempted to drive additional revenue through a rail music and microbrew series as it struggled to maintain enough freight customers to sustain the historic Rio Grande shortline railroad.
The San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad was involuntarily placed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 and through an appointed trustee invested around $1.3 million to rehabilitate railroad tracks – both laying new tracks and repairing old ones. There also was a renewed cleanup effort of 1,000 or so train cars that were being stored on track lines stretching from Alamosa to South Fork.
Those moves while in bankruptcy made the railroad attractive enough to draw a few bidders, Soloviev Group winning the auction with a $10.7 million cash bid. Since then it’s cleaned up the Alamosa railyard, rebranded its offices and train engines, and has the shortline busy with freight movement running south through Conejos County.
“There is some economic upside to having a functioning railroad enterprise within the Valley to help out our agricultural sector for sure, and there’s also ambitions that hopefully other economic opportunities would develop with that, that really haven’t,” Schoen said.
“I can sympathize with the position of the railroad that you have this section of the line that has not been used, that has not delivered an economic benefit to them as a company or to Rio Grande County, and that maybe consideration of another use, and particularly beneficial use to the recreation economy side, is worth taking a look at.”
The filing with the federal Surface Transportation Board for authorization to abandon the tracks will come on or after March 3, Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad said in its letter.