Moffat Tunnel Lease

I wasn't aware UP leased the Moffat Tunnel: Colorado Newsline

Relevant part:

...
DOLA, in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Public-Private Partnership (P3) Collaboration Unit of the Department of Personnel and Administration, has been meeting with communities along Union Pacific’s Central Corridor line between Denver and Grand Junction as Colorado renegotiates the terms of its lease with the railroad for use of the state-owned Moffat Tunnel. The current 99-year, $12,000 annual lease expires Jan. 6, 2025.

Union Pacific is responsible for the operation, maintenance, repair and insurance for the 6.2-mile tunnel under the Continental Divide at Winter Park — the only currently active east-west rail line through the Colorado Rockies and the most logical route for Utah oil headed to Gulf Coast refineries and global markets.
...

The Moffat Tunnel was mainly funded by the State of Colorado and thus the State sought to keep ownership of it.

This is going to be interesting to watch. Colorado residents have been very concerned about the mere possibility of oil trains being routed through the tunnel or any other route for that matter. Remember the whole fiasco when Union Pacific simply tried to lease Tennessee Pass to Rio Grande Pacific? There were hundreds of letters of opposition to a simple transaction that normally doesn't even need STB review. All because there was the possibility of the route being used for oil traffic.

The most likely outcome IMO is that the State of Colorado negotiates a harsher lease, Union Pacific grumbles but ultimately sucks it up, and nothing much changes. Maybe oil trains are limited through the tunnel. In that case, they would be routed west through Ogden and then east over the Overland Route. I've been wrong more than I've been right though. We'll see.

If Union Pacific and the State of Colorado can't come to any agreement, the Rio Grande would effectively be two long branch lines operated from Denver and Salt Lake City respectively. Maybe an MRL-style regional could take over? The California Zephyr could get "Southwest Cheif'ed..."

Or maybe Colorado Pacific tries again with the other route through the Rockies?

-Shortline

There's not much of an option for either party. CO can't lease it out to someone else, but UP could embargo the route and go through long way around i.e. Overland or upgrading Tennessee Pass....

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