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Two Cheyenne sites to be studied for potential new passenger rail station
Two Cheyenne sites to be studied for potential new passenger rail station

Yahoo

time18 hours ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Two Cheyenne sites to be studied for potential new passenger rail station

CHEYENNE – As conversations of passenger rail service returning to Colorado's front range progress, Cheyenne continues to prepare for how it may be able to tack onto the north end of the proposed railway service. On Friday, members of the Cheyenne City Council heard a presentation from Quandel Consultants, which has partnered with the Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization in identifying a potential site for a new passenger rail service station in Cheyenne. Of six potential locations and plan that have been tossed into the mixer, only two remain. Randy Grauberger, a senior rail consultant for Quandel, broke those two down for the city's governing body Friday afternoon. Grauberger said he could see Cheyenne becoming a rail service hub, potentially. This is rooted in conversations of several different passenger rail projects across the country involving Cheyenne. This includes the proposed Front Range Passenger Rail service which, if realized, would connect Pueblo, Colorado, to Fort Collins, Colorado, via Denver on a BNSF Railway line. That same line runs north through Casper and Billings, Montana, via Cheyenne, which could be possibilities for passenger rail service if the project extends. Grauberger described two other projects on Union Pacific lines that could connect Salt Lake City to the Minneapolis area via Cheyenne and Rapid City, South Dakota, and another line down to Denver from Cheyenne via Greeley, Colorado, also from Salt Lake City. 'That puts Cheyenne as a hub, almost, for passenger rail service if you get Front Range Passenger Rail and then three different Amtrak routes also coming through, again, there's no certainty that those will occur, but they have been identified in a federal plan.' With momentum growing for these projects and significant federal funding available, Grauberger outlined two potential sites for Cheyenne to plant its roots back into passenger rail service, saying he recalls the last passenger rail car in Cheyenne dating back to around 30 years ago. Reed Avenue Rail Corridor In the heart of the city's West Edge revitalization efforts, Grauberger proposed two alternatives for the Reed Avenue Rail Corridor Site. One option, which he called the 'steam plant' alternative, would see a stretch of new rail constructed 30 feet to the west of the existing BNSF tracks running through the corridor north of 20th Street, penetrating through the historic steam plant. passenger rail station 2 Diagram A Grauberger said this alternative would require renovating the steam plant, which is not included in the estimated $26.7 million to $28.2 million price tag, based on the valuation of the U.S. dollar in 2023. Indicated by a brown rectangle in Diagram A, the single-level station itself would be north of the existing steam plant, indicated in light blue, and offer baggage handling, concessions, a waiting area and a covered canopy. The pink line denotes passenger access where cars or buses could drop passengers off at the station, and the yellow rectangle to the west would be a two-story parking structure. However, this plan poses the highest budget risk, Grauberger said, as it would involve an uncertain steam plant renovation and acquisition of seven parcels of land. He proposed an alternative that is slightly less expensive, does not involve a steam plant renovation and only requires the acquisition of three parcels of land. This alternative has a similar concept but instead of running through the steam plant, the rail car would load or unload passengers at the same station site and then park in a stub track to the west of the existing BNSF line if there were any oncoming freight traffic. Grauberger said there are typically only two or three freight trains per week utilizing this section of BNSF track. A stub track is a spur track or siding that dead-ends, meaning it will sit parallel to the line and pull back onto the main track when it is ready to service passengers. Diagram B indicates the stub track would line up near the east side of the steam plant and go south nearly to Lincolnway. Passenger rail station 3 Diagram B This alternative leaves the possibility for the steam plant to be renovated privately as part of the Reed Avenue beautification efforts. Grauberger said this alternative would cost an estimated $24.1 to $25.1 million, also using estimates based on the value of the U.S. dollar in 2023. 'A lot of the support was the fact that everybody's excited about Reed Avenue corridor, with or without a passenger station, but they felt that with the station that even just provides extra energy and excitement for a renovated Reed Avenue corridor and all the other exciting things that the city is anticipating,' he said. Old Happy Jack Road The second location is the more expensive of the two sites but also poses the lowest budget risk due to its location and the fact it would not require parcel acquisition as the city already owns the land. This would be a little further to the west at the intersection of Missile Drive and Old Happy Jack Road. Indicated in diagram C, the new platform is shown in the thin orange line parallel to the existing BNSF track. As in the other diagrams, the brown rectangle would be where the new station is, and the pink line would be for vehicle pick-up and drop-off access. passenger rail station site 1 Diagram C The thicker orange line would be an extension of Grant Avenue, connecting Old Happy Jack Road to Missile Drive, and the gray triangle to its east would be single-story parking. Grauberger said that while there is less development in this area, it would accommodate some of the development to its south as multiple hotels have opened in the area recently in the Old Hitching Post Urban Renewal Area. However, the land here is uneven and would require some earthwork and a two-story train station. As a result, the price tag for this site is estimated to cost $30.9 million in 2023 estimates. Similar to the other station option, it would also offer baggage handling, concessions, a waiting area and a covered canopy. Additionally, this location would require an elevator for accessibility to the second story. Next steps The timeline for this project is currently unclear. Grauberger said that if the Front Range Passenger Rail project is approved, it could be connected to Fort Collins by 2029. He estimated it could take an additional four years after that to get a connection to Cheyenne. In total, this project would require municipal and county collaboration as well as working with the Colorado state government and the federal government to finalize planning and secure funding sources. Quandel provided five recommendations to the Cheyenne City Council moving forward: * Site the station as close as practical to downtown Cheyenne; * Continue to study and develop Old Happy Jack Road and Reed Avenue Corridor sites; * Stay engaged with the Front Range Passenger Rail District and submit an application to enter the Cheyenne Extension into the FRA Corridor Identification and Development Program; * Continue to stay in communication and share information with BNSF, UP, and Amtrak; and * Stay engaged with FRA and Amtrak as the FRA moves any Long Distance Service Study recommendations forward.

‘It's nuclear meltdown': Re-elected Australian leader Albanese powers ahead as opposition tears itself apart
‘It's nuclear meltdown': Re-elected Australian leader Albanese powers ahead as opposition tears itself apart

Irish Times

timea day ago

  • Business
  • Irish Times

‘It's nuclear meltdown': Re-elected Australian leader Albanese powers ahead as opposition tears itself apart

The old saying that you should never interrupt your enemies when they are making a mistake has morphed over the centuries. Having once referred to war, it now finds greater use in the context of politics. But Australia's ruling Labor Party, which won 94 of the parliament's 150 lower house seats in the May 3rd election , cannot help but try to give the opposition Liberal-National coalition a helping hand in the latter's seeming quest to reach rock bottom. 'This is a nuclear meltdown, and the coalition now is nothing more than a smoking ruin,' treasurer Jim Chalmers said of the conservative alliance. The coalition parties, following their worst result of 43 seats (they may win one more on a recount), immediately began an internecine war, with re-elected senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price at the centre of much of it. READ MORE First, she switched her allegiance from the Nationals to the Liberals. Then she backed the wrong horse, Angus Taylor, in his bid to become the new Liberal leader in the expectation that she would become his deputy. When Taylor lost to Sussan Ley, Price declined to stand for deputy. This was a sideshow to the main event, which saw the coalition split for about a week, then get back together just in time for the baubles and higher pay of shadow cabinet positions to be handed out. Price was dumped from the shadow cabinet, which she did not take well. 'There are probably some appointments that have not been predicated on experience or merit,' she said to Sky News. Chalmers said the opposition was 'completely and entirely focused on themselves. They tried to divide the Australian community in the election campaign, and they ended up dividing themselves'. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese , who was regularly criticised for being too timid over the past three years, is showing signs of a more ambitious policy agenda after being re-elected in a landslide in which the Liberal and Greens leaders lost their seats. Speaking after the recent devastating floods in northern New South Wales (NSW) that left five people dead and about 800 homes uninhabitable, Albanese said: 'The science told us that [extreme weather events] would be more frequent and they would be more intense. And that's precisely what, tragically, is playing out.' Though acknowledging climate change's role in the tragedy seems the least any responsible politician should do, many Liberal-National coalition MPs still regularly say there is no connection, that each new disaster is a 'once-in-a-100-years' occurrence. At the time of the last major flooding in the region in 2022, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce went even further, saying: 'This is a one-in-3,500-year event.' When catastrophes supposed to happen centuries or millenniums apart are happening every two or three years, it might be time to take climate change seriously. It scarcely matters to sceptics such as Joyce though. The people most likely to be affected by weather disasters are also most likely to vote for politicians unwilling to do anything about it beyond sending help afterwards and offering 'thoughts and prayers'. Not that Labor has a free pass on its own response to the climate emergency, having just extended the life of ​​Australia's largest mainland gas facility until 2070. Amanda McKenzie of Australia's Climate Council said: 'Communities in NSW are starting the clean-up after record-breaking floods. It is shocking that at the same time the Albanese government has approved this massive climate bomb as the first act of this term of government. They've just opened the floodgates on over four billion tonnes of climate pollution.' Albanese may be on safer ground, though, in unequivocally condemning the Israeli government over its war on Gaza . 'Israel's actions are completely unacceptable,' he said. 'It is outrageous that there be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in Gaza.' Albanese met Israeli president Yitzhak Herzog in Rome when they were there for Pope Leo XIV's inauguration mass. 'I made it very clear that Australia finds these actions completely unacceptable and we find Israel's excuses and explanations completely untenable and without credibility,' he said. His forceful language is a marked change given the regular claims from Australia's conservative press and broadcasters that any criticism of Israel's actions is anti-Semitic. Not that the Rupert Murdoch -owned newspapers, websites and Sky News have lessened their attacks on Labor. Their latest target is the proposed changes to how compulsory pension savings (which sees 11.5 per cent of a person's salary going to a superannuation fund most people cannot access until they are at least 60) are taxed. The change will see those with more than $3 million Australian dollars (€1.7 million) in their superannuation savings pay 30 per cent tax on earnings above that figure, rather than 15 per cent as is stands. It will affect just the richest 0.5 per cent of people with such accounts. That hasn't stopped a scare campaign claiming that eventually everyone will have to pay this tax. Albanese's government just has to convince people that if they had $3 million Australian dollars in savings then they probably could afford to pay more tax.

Darwin Port Tussle Highlights China-US Tension
Darwin Port Tussle Highlights China-US Tension

Bloomberg

time2 days ago

  • Business
  • Bloomberg

Darwin Port Tussle Highlights China-US Tension

Good morning, it's Angus here in Sydney. Here's what you need to know as we round out the week. Today's must-reads (listens): • Our podcast on the Port of Darwin showdown • How many RBA rate cuts? • Natural gas sector grapples with red tape In 2015, Chinese company Landbridge was awarded a 99-year lease over the Port of Darwin. Now, Australia wants to take it back and put it into local hands. This week on the Bloomberg Australia podcast, Rebecca Jones speaks to government reporter Ben Westcott and senior editor Chelsea Mes about why Beijing is speaking out against that decision, and what role the US might play.

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