Montrose – Telluride
Western Rail Coalition > Vision Concepts > Telluride Rail Link
Montrose and Telluride are approximately 75 miles apart by road through scenic Southwestern Colorado. Residents, workers, and visitors travel this route regularly.
A potential passenger rail line would run between Montrose (where it would connect with proposed Uncompahgre Valley trains) and Telluride Ski Resort, providing a direct link for tourists, local residents and employees to access the resort. From Montrose the route would roughly parallel the US 550 corridor as far as Ouray, where it would then swing southwest to follow Canyon Creek, entering a newly constructed 4 mile long tunnel between Camp Bird and Pandora before finally approaching Telluride from the east end. Intermediate stations could be provided to serve the towns of Ridgeway and Ouray with a possible extension to Telluride Regional Airport. As the tracks would be solely dedicated to passenger trains, frequent all-day service could be provided along the line.
The Western Rail Coalition supports the studying of what would be required to construct and implement year-round passenger rail service along the full route between Montrose and Telluride.
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