An ambitious proposal to construct an electric rail line that could whisk skiers from Denver International Airport to Avon in about 97 minutes faces an uphill battle to become a reality.

But Jay Branch, the vice-president of Denver West Express Inc., a company proposing a railroad that would do exactly that, believes it’s possible, even if he and his business partners haven’t figured out every detail.

“This is a concept, and it’s a business plan. It isn’t a fully engineered route,” Branch said. “There are some problems that will need to be resolved. We haven’t solved all the problems. We know we can get from point A to point B in an efficient and reasonable amount of time. There’s a lot of questions that haven’t been answered yet.”

The Denver West Express, as proposed by the company, would stretch 178 miles from Denver into the mountains with passenger trains averaging speeds of about 90 mph. The project was first reported by the Denver Gazette, and drew the attention of ski industry blogs such as SnowBrains.

On the Western Slope, the Denver West Express proposal has sparked interest as well as skepticism. 

“It sounds like a pipe dream — or should I say tunnel dream — to me,” wrote Patrick Brower, founder of Grand County-based consulting service Grand Enterprise Initiative, in a recent column for the Sky-Hi News. “But I’m curious to learn more.”

The proposed route would cross through largely undeveloped terrain south of Interstate 70 and require two major tunnels, a nearly 5-mile tunnel under the Continental Divide and another 6.5-mile tunnel near Fremont Pass, according to an executive summary of the project. The plans call for the trains to use battery electric locomotive technology, such as that developed by the Pennsylvania-based Wabtec Corporation.

The proposed rail line would have a station at Denver International Airport, one that would tie into existing rail lines at Mineral Station in Littleton, another stop in the rural town of Bailey along U.S. Route 285 and stations in Frisco and Avon to drop ski traffic near major resorts. Branch said the company has devised a route through the mountains that fits railroad standards, including never exceeding a 4% grade.

Based on estimates from comparable European railroad projects, the project summary estimates that it would cost between $28 and 33 billion to construct the Denver West Express over a 12-14 year period.

The president of Denver West Express is Mark Leese, who also heads the Denver-based architecture firm Leese & Associates and has years of transportation planning experience in Colorado. Branch also has experience with architecture and engineering design through his company Jay Branch Enterprises, Inc.

To date, the company has not filed any official plans with the Colorado Department of Transportation or other transit authorities.

Branch said that the hope is to fund as much of the project as possible through private investments, while also collaborating with local, state and federal authorities for funding. He said the best-case scenario for the project would be to find a billionaire “benefactor” who could help provide the funds.

“We would love to build this thing privately and not ask Colorado taxpayers for a nickel,” he said.

Branch said the railroad, which would also be able to carry freight, would be a solution to increasing congestion on I-70 and could help connect workers on the Front Range to mountain communities, where the cost of living is high. He cited an I-70 corridor impact study published this year, which estimated that traffic on the mountain corridor costs Colorado about $2.3 billion annually.

As Colorado pursues its climate goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Branch said the battery powered trains would also help the state reduce emissions. He said that if the rail line were successful in connecting Denver to the mountains, it could eventually be linked into a high-speed transcontinental railroad.

The Denver West Express proposal joins another ambitious passenger rail proposal pitched by the Denver-based STE-Holdings. That project, called the I-70 Mountain Express, would bring a hydrogen-powered railway from Golden to Breckenridge and Winter Park, but has not been formally proposed yet to state or federal transportation authorities and faces major obstacles from funding to permitting.

As private companies pitch these big ideas, Colorado transportation officials are continuing to pursue their own plans for mountain rail projects. CDOT’s latest plans for mountain rail, published in 2023, call for investments of between $4.3 and $6.1 billion to build out 620 miles of additional train service.

The state’s proposed routes would connect Denver to Grand Junction along the route of the current California Zephyr operated by Amtrack, Denver to Craig by expanding the existing route of the Winter Park Express, Glenwood Springs to Pueblo along Tennessee Pass and Glenwood Springs to Aspen within the right-of-way of the historic Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.

But none of Colorado’s plans would connect to ski resort communities in Summit or Eagle counties, where some of the state’s largest resorts — including Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Keystone Resort and Copper Mountain — are located.

“Imagine getting off a plane, a tourist or even a local, and getting on a train at DIA and being able to ski six major ski areas without ever renting a car,” Branch said. “Once you get to Fricso, Avon (or) Vail, you guys already have established infrastructure there.”