Can Colorado Build Its Own Swiss-Style Ski Railway? Inside the Denver West Express

For many Colorado skiers, the weekend begins long before the first chair. It begins somewhere between Golden and the Eisenhower Tunnel, crawling westbound on Interstate 70. On peak winter days in Colorado, more than 50,000 vehicles pack the mountain corridor near the Eisenhower Tunnel. While the numbers help explain the bottleneck, the problem is especially tied to the state’s “weekend warrior” ski culture: heavy snow, icy roads, unfamiliar mountain driving conditions, and travelers arriving in vehicles equipped with standard all-season tires.

The state actively enforces the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Passenger Vehicle Traction Law, but the corridor remains vulnerable. It only takes one spun-out vehicle to block lanes through a narrow canyon section and turn a routine 90-minute drive into hours of gridlock. While buses such as Snowstang and Bustang have helped provide alternatives, they still share the same highway — and the same traffic congestions.

The Existing Track Record

Rail service has long played a role in Colorado mountain recreation. The Winter Park Express recently concluded another strong season. According to Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Transit Reports, the train carried 39,219 passengers during its recent 2025–26 season. Weekend service proved incredibly popular, running at an average of 88% capacity. To help drive this demand and make mountain transit accessible, state-supported ticket discounts lowered some promotional one-way fares to as little as $9, as detailed in the CDOT presentation materials.

• Related: Winter Park, CO, Ski Train Sees 153% Ridership Boom in 2025

The Winter Park Express, however, serves a specific corridor into the Fraser Valley. It does not address congestion through Summit County or the Vail Valley. Against that backdrop, a new proposal has emerged: the Denver West Express.

Defining the Denver West Express Vision

The Denver West Express (DWE) concept recently gained attention through a column in The Denver Gazette by political scientist Bob Loevy. In describing the proposal, Loevy wrote that the goal is “to introduce the efficiency and reliability of Swiss mountain railroading to the Colorado Rockies.” The project itself originates from Denver West Express LLC, which Loevy describes as a group of Colorado professionals with engineering, architectural, and business backgrounds. Within the organization, Jay Branch serves as vice president of design and development.

The group’s proposed 178-mile (286-kilometre) passenger rail line would connect Denver International Airport to Avon in approximately 97 minutes. It would serve major ski destinations including Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Vail, and Beaver Creek. To bypass the I-70 corridor entirely, the proposal follows a southern alignment through Parker, along portions of the U.S. 285 corridor, and through Guanella Pass before reaching Frisco. The concept includes a 5-mile tunnel beneath the Continental Divide and relies on battery-electric train technology intended for mountain operations.

The Swiss Standard

The Swiss inspiration is central to the proposal. Switzerland’s Federal Railways (SBB) network integrates trains, buses, and gondolas into a coordinated transportation system that allows residents and visitors to travel through alpine regions without relying heavily on personal vehicles. The Denver West Express proposal seeks to draw on that model by emphasizing passenger comfort, scenic travel, and seamless connections between mountain destinations. Concept materials describe panoramic viewing cars, onboard connectivity, and amenities designed for both visitors and local travelers.

While the passenger experience is a major part of the project’s appeal, the proposal also represents a significant engineering undertaking. Loevy notes that the estimated cost of constructing the independent, fully electrified corridor could reach approximately $33 billion in 2025 dollars. The project would require an estimated 12 to 14 years of construction and currently has no secured funding source or regulatory approvals. Because the system would be built as an entirely new transportation corridor rather than using existing rail infrastructure, questions remain about how a project of this scale would ultimately be financed and what role public investment, private capital, or public-private partnerships might play in its development.

For Colorado skiers, the appeal is obvious. Instead of leaving Denver before dawn to beat traffic, passengers could spend the journey drinking coffee, reading a book, or simply watching the Rockies roll past the windows rather than staring at brake lights. Whether enough skiers would leave their cars at home remains an open question, but anyone who has sat stationary on I-70 after a powder day knows why the idea continues to generate interest.

Paths for the Future of Colorado High Mountain Rail

The Denver West Express presents a markedly different approach from other regional rail plans currently under discussion.

The Public Utility Model (CDOT Mountain Rail): Colorado continues to advance its official CDOT Mountain Rail Initiative, targeting daily, year-round passenger service between Denver and Granby by late 2026. Because trains would operate on existing Union Pacific freight tracks using diesel-electric locomotives, the project requires significantly less up-front infrastructure investment and is designed to serve a mix of local commuters, residents, and recreational travelers.

• Related: Skip the Ski Traffic and Take Colorado’s Winter Park Express Train

The Hydrail Alternative (STE Holdings): Energy and transit firm STE Holdings has outlined several hydrogen-powered rail concepts, including one linking the Front Range with Grand County that would cost approximately $4.5 billion to construct. As reported by Sky-Hi News, the company proposes an unconventional financing model: using a large-scale network of regional rooftop solar installations to help fund construction, rather than relying primarily on public funding or high passenger fares. While public details remain limited, the proposal highlights the wide range of ideas being explored as Colorado searches for alternatives to highway-dependent mountain travel.

Slow Train Coming

Colorado’s mountain transit conversation is shifting back toward the tracks. While the Denver West Express is currently just an ambitious concept, the Winter Park Express proves that there is real demand for rail. With skier visits continuing to climb and Interstate 70 becoming increasingly congested, Colorado’s mountain transportation debate no longer revolves around whether trains belong in the Rockies. The question is what kind of rail system and how much the state is willing to invest to build it.