Railway company will invest $141 million in Colorado rails, including at several Weld County sites

BNSF Railway Co. will spend an estimated $141 million this year for railway maintenance and capacity improvement projects in Colorado, including at several sites in Weld County, the company announced in a news release Tuesday.

The investment comes as part of BNSFs 2015 capital commitment of $6 billion across the U.S.

Because U.S. railroads own and maintain their own networks, the company allocates capital for the infrastructure and expansion projects that will make it possible to serve the growing needs of customers. This ensures the railway network operates efficiently each year.

The program in Colorado will include 580 miles of track surfacing and undercutting work, the replacement of nearly 16 miles of rail and close to 123,500 ties, as well as signal upgrades for federally mandated positive train control.

BNSFs 2015 capital projects in Colorado include:

Extending the sidings along the Brush subdivision in Bijou, Crest, Hudson, Messex, Roggen and Tonville. The work on extending the sidings in Barr, Keensburg, New Hillrose and Wiggins will also start this year, but will be completed in 2016. The siding at Messex also will be converted to Centralized Traffic Control to help manage rail traffic.

Constructing a new siding west of Commerce City enabling trains on the same line to pass resulting in better train capacity.

Extending the tracks at the Denver and Sterling terminals to improve throughput capacity.

Included in the $6 billion commitment is $2.9 billion to replace and maintain core network and related assets, nearly $1.5 billion on expansion and efficiency projects, $200 million for continued implementation of positive train control and $1.4 billion for locomotives, freight cars and other equipment acquisitions.

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Railway company will invest $141 million in Colorado rails, including at several Weld County sites