Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad

The Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad is a rail line that connects communities in south central Colorado and the San Luis Valley to the rest of the world allowing them to transport and receive goods for domestic and international shipment via the Union Pacific or BNSF railroads. The rail line runs from Walsenburg, CO over the La Veta Pass to South Fork, CO and from Alamosa, CO south to Antonito, CO; it was originally built by the Denver & Rio Grande around 1880.

OPERATIONS

The Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad offers freight service to its customers five days a week, headquartered at the historic freight office in Alamosa built in 1909. The 2022 traffic level was about 7000 cars. Current operating speed for the line is 10 mph with allowable car weights of up to 263,000 pounds.

The Soloviev Group plans to upgrade its speed capacity to 25 mph and weight clearance to more modern 286,000 pound cars. The line has siding capacity for long term storage of 500 cars. The newest industrial facility on the line, a bulk fertilizer unloading plant pictured here, was opened by the Monte Vista Co-Op in 2022.

HISTORY

The oldest predecessor of the line was the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, chartered in 1870 with ambitions to link Denver and Mexico City. Tracks from Walsenburg reached Alamosa in 1878 and ultimately reached a southern terminus at Santa Fe, New Mexico. Thereafter a branch was built west from Alamosa to Creede to service a silver mining boom in that locale. In 1908 the Denver & Rio Grande consolidated with another line to form the Denver & Rio Grande Western, which existed independently until 1988. At that time it merged with the Southern Pacific railroad, which was merged with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996. In 2003 Union Pacific divested itself of the line by sale which led through several ownership companies to Bankruptcy Court in 2019. The first passenger train arrived on July 4, 1878 and last regular passenger service (to Pueblo) ended in 1953.