Colorado
State Details
See Wikipedia; also see United States for information relating to the country as a whole, and the national operator Amtrak.
Maps
Colorado is covered by the SPV "North America Railroad Atlas" volume Colorado & Utah.
Rail Operators
The only Amtrak services in Colorado are long-distance trains: the California Zephyr (Chicago - Emeryville), and Southwest Chief (Chicago - Los Angeles).
RTD
RTD (Regional Transportation District) operates public transport in the Denver area, including two groups of rail services:
- commuter rail: lines A, B, G, and N, built to main-line standards, run from Denver Union station to points north of the city
- light rail: lines running within and south of Denver city centre
Information
- Map: see System Map - scroll down for the rail map
- Journey planner: Plan your Trip page
- Timetables: Schedules page. For schedules in PDF format, follow the link to the page for each line, then click the "PDF schedule" link.
- Engineering work and disruptions: Service Alerts page
See also UrbanRail.
Real-time information for RTD services is available at Pantograph.
RTD Commuter Rail
Infrastructure
- Gauge: standard
- Electrification: 25kV 60Hz AC overhead
- Rule of the road: right
Information
See the RTD website as above.
Tourist Lines
See Wikipedia
Metro and light rail systems
Denver
As of January 2024, RTD Light Rail comprises lines D, E, H, L, R, and W. Former lines C and F were discontinued in January 2023.
Infrastructure
- Gauge: standard
- Electrification: 750V DC overhead
- Rule of the road: right
Information
See the RTD website as above.
Obscure or Sparse Passenger Services
See USA - Lines with Obscure or Sparse passenger services - Colorado.
Recent and Future Changes
Recent Changes
Future Changes
State funded Mountain Rails are set to operate a passenger service between Denver and Granby (along the route of Amtrak's California Zephyr) beginning in late 2026. This is the first part of a drive by Colorado State to increase passenger rail transport. Future plans for passenger services including Denver to Boulder, Longmont and Fort Collins and Denver to Craig are some years off.
