Colorado Governor Polis comes to Pueblo to sign the Railroad Safety Act

Colorado Governor Jared Polis came to Pueblo Friday afternoon to sign a bill that would provide additional rail safety protections and establish an Office of Rail Safety within the state’s Public Utilities Commission.

House Bill 1030, sponsored by state Reps. Javier Mabrey and Tisha Mauro, as well as Secretaries of State Lisa Cutter and Tony Exum, was introduced in January of this year, according to the Colorado General Assembly.

The bill was introduced less than three months after a train derailment just north of Pueblo shut down Interstate 25 for the better part of a week.

“Passenger rail and freight rail are safer per mile than trucks and cars,” Polis said. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make it safer by doing more inspections and making sure that employees who see something can take it (to the next level) and make sure it’s handled seriously.

“We want to prevent more derailments like the one that closed I-25, but we also want to make sure that as we move toward Front Range Passenger Rail, everyone can rest assured that this is the safest way to get off the to get from one place to another.”

Front Range Passenger Rail is a planned rail line that will connect Pueblo in the south to Fort Collins in the north, with stops in Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, Denver, Boulder, Longmont and Loveland, and future connections to Trinidad and New Mexico to the south and Wyoming to the north. The FRPR website estimates that the first train could be operational in the next 10 to 15 years.

The bill would have Colorado join 30 other states in creating state inspection programs, with a mechanism for workers to report problems and be taken seriously, Polis said. Two advisory groups will also be set up to “ensure we can make progress on rail safety,” he said.

Polis thanked the lawmakers involved for their work in drafting the bill, including Mauro, who represents Pueblo.

“We appreciate the work of Representative Mauro, Representative Mabrey, Senator Cutter and Senator Exum, who really worked to ensure that it is data-driven and would make rail transportation even safer, even though it is already the safest mode to get from one place to another.”

During his visit to Pueblo, Polis also signed Senate Bill 20 Delivery and Pickup of Alcoholic Beverages, which lifted the planned repeal of legislation allowing certain businesses licensed to sell alcohol to deliver or allow alcohol to be delivered to a customer. to collect alcoholic drinks from the premises. One of the bill’s primary sponsors was Sen. Nick Hinrichsen of Pueblo.

Questions, comments or story tips? Contact Justin at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formally known as Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local news and subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at Subscribe.chieftain.com.

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