Ridership on the Winter Park Express, a seasonal passenger train between Denver and the ski resort, more than doubled this ski season amid cheaper tickets and expanded service. 

In a Friday news release, Gov. Jared Polis’ office announced that ridership increased by 153% this season compared to last, with a total of 43,919 passengers. The train operates from mid-December through the end of March.

Train cars were also, on average, between 89% and 95% full and carried two additional passenger cars, increasing the number of seats available this season from 268 to 402. 

The boost in ridership came after state officials late last year announced that fares would be cut in half, going from between $58 to $118 for a round-trip ticket to $38 to $78. Tickets for kids aged 12 and under were also reduced by half. 

The new ticket prices were subsidized with revenue from a 2024 state law that imposed a $3 per-day fee on rental cars. Service was also expanded to five days a week, running from Thursday to Monday. Previously, the train only ran from Friday through Sunday. 

“Historic ridership increases on the Winter Park Express prove that when Coloradans have more affordable, reliable and safe transportation options to get to the mountains, we flock to it,” Polis said in a statement. “Thanks to this year’s state investment, more Coloradans than ever skipped the I-70 traffic and took the train to the mountains.”

The data is welcome news for Polis and other state leaders who are pushing to extend the train’s route beyond Winter Park to include Steamboat Springs and Craig in what they envision will be year-round service. 

That plan reached a major milestone earlier this month after the governor and Union Pacific Rail sealed a deal that will allow the state to run passenger services for the next 25 years without paying a fee for use of Union’s tracks, which carry freight trains through northwest Colorado. 

The agreement hinged on the 6.3-mile-long Moffat Tunnel, which cuts through the Continental Divide to connect Gilpin and Grand counties. While the state owns the tunnel, Union Pacific pays rent to run its tracks through it to carry commercial trains. Under the deal signed by Polis, Union Pacific will no longer pay rent in exchange for allowing the state to use its tracks for free for the mountain passenger rail line, supporting up to three round trips per day.

The state is planning to begin offering mountain rail service in phases over “the next several years,” according to the news release from Polis’ office. 

Officials are hoping to have Denver and Granby connected by the end of 2026 but have not yet set a timeline for when a full Denver to Craig route will be operational.