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The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has launched Rail Relocation for Colorado's Communities (R2C2), a study aimed at determining the feasibility of moving through-freight rail traffic away from the Front Range Corridor (between Denver and Pueblo) to the state's eastern plains.

Study participants include BNSF Railway Co., Union Pacific Railroad, the Regional Transportation District of Denver, and local and regional stakeholders.

R2C2 builds on a CDOT public benefits/cost study completed in 2005 that concluded a rail relocation would accrue significant public benefits. R2C2 will better define and evaluate preliminary rail alignments, determine costs, investigate available funding sources, identify what steps need to be carried out to form a public/private partnership and develop strategies for implementing necessary environmental reviews, CDOT said.

The transportation agency has contracted a Parsons Brinckerhoff-led consultant team to complete R2C2, which will involve the public to incorporate feedback on alignments and funding strategies.