Efforts to ensure that Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line keeps rolling through the region are chugging along.
Pueblo County announced Monday it was pledging $12,500 toward the latest Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery — or TIGER — grant application for train track fixes.
It joins more than 20 other communities in three states — Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico — that have already passed similar resolutions or submitted letters of support for the line.
To date, Pueblo County says, the communities have banded together to pledge matching funds totaling nearly $9.2 million, with Colfax County, N.M., leading the $25 million grant application.
This year’s TIGER grant application is the fourth such application launched by small communities across the Southwest who have been pushing for years to keep the beloved train line from being rerouted from their towns — or even ended altogether — because of millions of dollars needed for track repairs.
The Southwest Chief — which travels between Chicago and Los Angeles — has been slowed because of older train tracks limiting its speed. So far, more than $50 million has been spent to upgrade nearly 47 miles of track to keep the train moving at highway speeds.
The Amtrak route makes Colorado stops in Lamar, La Junta and Trinidad. Pueblo has been pushing to be added to the route.
The Colorado legislature this year passed a bill to continue a commission that has been advocating for the Southwest Chief and which will also now explore the viability of Front Range passenger train service from Trinidad to the Wyoming border.
