City of Cheyenne creates Cheyenne Passenger Rail Commission

City of Cheyenne, Wyo., Mayor Patrick Collins has created the Cheyenne Passenger Rail Commission, naming 10 members to the new board to help provide guidance and oversight for establishing passenger rail service in Cheyenne and serve as a local contact point for regional efforts.

The commission will be tasked with promoting the return of passenger rail to Cheyenne, including working directly with Colorado’s Front Range Passenger Rail District and federal representatives, serving as a decision-making body for planning efforts and pledging support for a Service Development Plan for the extension of passenger rail service to Wyoming.

“Bringing passenger rail back to Cheyenne would provide enormous benefits to our community,” said Mayor Collins. “Train service will make it easier to get up and down the Front Range and give us a major economic boost.”

The city of Cheyenne hasn’t had scheduled passenger rail service since 1997. However, momentum has grown significantly in recent years to establish passenger rail service along the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne and Pueblo, Colo.

In 2021, the state of Colorado established the Front Range Passenger Rail District to oversee the development of passenger rail along the I-25 corridor between Wyoming and New Mexico. Wyoming already has an ex-officio representative on that board.

Also in 2021, Amtrak announced a historic expansion plan that includes a Front Range regional service from Cheyenne to Pueblo, with potential stops in Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Denver, Littleton, Castle Rock, the USAF Academy and Colorado Springs.

“We have a historic opportunity to see passenger rail return to Cheyenne,” said Jeff Noffsinger, director of the Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization. “This is an exciting time for our community and we’re going to work hard to see this project come to fruition.”

Members of the commission include:

• Jeff Noffsinger, Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization director
• Charles Bloom, Cheyenne Planning and Development Department director
• Renee Smith, city of Cheyenne grants manager
• Dan Kline, Wyoming Department of Transportation Systems Planning and Railroads
• Dale Steenbergen, Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce
• Ken Esquibel, Cheyenne City Councilmember
• Gunnar Malm, Laramie County Commissioner
• Rep. Landon Brown, Wyoming House of Representatives
• Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning and Development director
• Steve Borin, Cheyenne Ctizen Representative