Denver, CO – No regularly scheduled trains have carried skiers from Denver to Winter Park since 2009, but that’s about to change.

The Ski Train was popular with Denverites for nearly 70 years, but negotiations over track use halted the service seven years ago, aside from two weekends of sold-out trips in 2015. That’s apparently built some pent-up demand, for more than 3,300 tickets were sold in the first day that they went on sale this month.

The 500-passenger Winter Park Express Amtrak double-decker Superliner trains will leave Denver beginning at 7 a.m. on weekends between January 7 and March 26, heading for a 62-mile,two-hour trip to a new $3.5 million, 950-foot heated cement rail platform built outside the west portal of the Moffat Tunnel only 30 yards from Winter Park’s Gemini lift. Tired and satisfied passengers will leave Winter Park at 4:30 p.m. to return to Denver by 6:40 p.m. The new service is thanks to 18 months of negotiations, a $1.5 million grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation, $100,000 from the city of Denver, $100,000 from the Town of Winter Park, $1,000 from the Colorado Rail Passengers Association and the remainder from Intrawest, the operator of Winter Park, which is owned by the city of Denver.

One-way fares range from $39-59, which is really a small price to pay to avoid weekend traffic on I-70. Advance purchasers will get the best discounts. And thanks to a rail link to Denver International Airport, visitors can now reach Winter Park without ever setting foot in an automobile.