Ski Train To Winter Park Returns Next Year
By Andrea Flores
DENVER (CBS4)- It's still summer but a new train set to run from Union Station to Winter Park next year has some skiers already thinking about hitting the slopes.
"It would be so much easier," said skier Jay Dilorenzo. "You ski, you're tired, and then afterwards it would take all the work out of it."
The Winter Park Express will run every Saturday and Sunday from Jan. 7 2017 to March 26, 2017, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Presidents Day.
The train will leave Union Station at 7 a.m. Passengers will be dropped off at Winter Park by 9 a.m., board the same train at 4:30 p.m., and be back at Union Station by 6:40 p.m.
One-way tickets start at $39 for adults. Up to two kids, ages 2 to 12, can ride half-price with a ticketed adult.
Future passengers say they're excited to skip stop-and-go traffic.
"We're taking cars off of I-70," said Winter Park Resort President Gary DeFrange. "We estimate about cars 500 would come off every time the train comes and goes."
DeFrange says a lot of work goes into getting the 500 passenger train and ADA-compliant platform up and running.
Construction has begun on a 950-foot heated cement platform that will make it easier for people to get on and off the train.
Nostalgia brings Matt Hupperts back to the days before the train stopped service up the hill in 2009.
"I think it just really brings together that feeling of Colorado, and skiing, and that comradery that you get with all the people who are all going to that destination to ski, and play, and have a great time," Hupperts said.
Tickets for all 26 weekend trips go on sale Aug. 30 at 8 a.m. online.
LINK: amtrak.com/WinterParkExpress
Andrea Flores is a reporter for CBS4. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @AndreaFloresTV..