Polis Rail Deal vs Initiative 175 in Colorado

The Denver Gazette reports that Gov. Jared Polis is celebrating a new agreement between BNSF Railway and Front Range Passenger Rail that would create three daily round-trip passenger trains between Denver and Fort Collins, with service targeted for January 2029. Polis is touting the deal as coming with “no new taxes” and at about half the cost of earlier estimates, because nothing says fiscal discipline like finding another pocket to pick.

The agreement calls for $330 million in capital improvements, with $156 million coming from RTD’s FasTracks savings account and $176 million from the Colorado Transportation Investment Office. Annual operating costs would run about $30 million, split among partners. The deal is still non-binding and subject to final contracts, but the governor has already put on the conductor hat and started waving from the platform.

The Bullet Point Brief

Polis says the rail deal would bring three daily round trips between Denver and Fort Collins with no new taxes. That phrase is doing a lot of work. “No new taxes” often means “we found old money you were not watching closely enough.”
The proposed starter service is supposed to begin by January 2029. Coloradans should mark their calendars lightly, preferably in pencil, maybe with an eraser the size of Longs Peak.
The project depends partly on funds from the Colorado Transportation Investment Office, including revenue streams that Initiative 175 could redirect to road-only uses. In other words, Polis’ Choo-Choo may need the same transportation money voters might prefer to spend on actual roads.
Initiative 175 would direct about $2.09 billion in existing state revenues each year exclusively to road transportation, including roads, bridges, safety improvements, planning, engineering, and Colorado State Patrol operations. Revolutionary stuff: road money for roads.
The Gazette notes that the daily vehicle rental fee is among the revenues Initiative 175 could capture, with Legislative Council Staff listing $22 million in the half-year FY 2026-27 and $45.6 million in FY 2027-28. That sound you hear is the rail lobby nervously checking the couch cushions.

My Bottom Line

Polis’ Choo-Choo has always been a fantasy. A shiny, progressive, ribbon-cutting fantasy with a friendly name, a glossy mock-up, and a taxpayer risk profile large enough to need its own boarding pass. But come hell or high water, this governor is going to raid every fund possible to get his toy train.

And mark my words: if this thing fails, the taxpayer will be left holding the bag. That is how these projects work. The press release gets the champagne. The public gets the invoice. The politicians say “no new taxes,” then shuffle money around like a street-corner card trick and act offended when somebody asks where the queen went.

I fully support Initiative 175. When I tell people that the taxes they pay on automotive repair and maintenance do not benefit the roads, but instead go into the General Fund where Polis and his ruling Democrats can spend them on pet projects, like providing health care for illegal aliens, they are shocked. They should be. People assume vehicle-related taxes and fees help fix the roads they drive on. Silly them. They forgot they live under the Gold Dome shell game.

Support 175. Speak up. Road money should go to roads. Bridges should get fixed. Safety improvements should matter. State Patrol operations should be funded. And Polis’ Choo-Choo should never leave the station unless taxpayers get the truth, the full cost, and the guarantee that the governor is not raiding practical transportation dollars to pay for a rolling monument to his own ambition.

Source: The Denver Gazette