There is a Douglas County stop on Colorado's passenger rail map — and it is the only one.
Colorado Connector, the intercity service being developed by the Front Range Passenger Rail District, lists a Sterling Ranch station among the 12 communities on a roughly 190-mile line from Fort Collins to Pueblo, with Denver Union Station at the center.
But the headline number on the project's marketing — first trains by 2029 — is not the number that matters here.
The 2029 trains don't come south
The Starter Service launching in 2029 is three daily round trips between Denver and Fort Collins, stopping at eight stations: Denver Union Station, Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins.
None of them are in Douglas County.
Service south of Denver — Littleton, Sterling Ranch, Colorado Springs, Pueblo — comes in later phases. The District's own language is that service "grows in phases: extending south to Colorado Springs and Pueblo and adding more trips over a roughly 20-year horizon."
So the useful framing for anyone here: the train is real, the Douglas County station is on the official map, and it is a long way out.
And the southern phase depends on a vote
This is the part worth watching, because it may land on a ballot sooner than the train lands at Titan Road.
The 2029 starter service needs no new tax — the District says it will be built with existing State and RTD funding commitments. Extending south is different. Per the project's own FAQ, full service "depends on new dedicated funding, which would come from a future ballot question potentially in November 2026; this would be decided only by the communities closest to the permanent stations."
In other words: not a statewide vote, but a vote by District voters in the funding area. If that question appears and passes, the southern corridor — and Douglas County's station — moves forward. If it doesn't, the 2029 service still runs, just not down here.
We haven't seen the question certified for a Douglas County ballot. We're tracking it alongside the county's "3 to 5" commissioner measure and the Castle Pines annexation amendments, and we'll update this page if it materializes.
Where the station would go, and what it would connect
The project places the station near US-85 (Santa Fe Drive) and Titan Road, calling it a "key southern gateway." The precise platform location is still under study.
Per the project, the station area would serve:
- Sterling Ranch — the master-planned community immediately west
- Lockheed Martin Space Systems — its worldwide headquarters, which the project describes as one of the largest Tier 1 employers in Colorado
- Roxborough, Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock, plus the broader county
It also names connections that already exist or are being built: Douglas County's Link on Demand on-demand transit service now rolling out countywide, Chatfield State Park — the most-visited state park in Colorado — the Highline Canal, the Sterling Ranch trail system, and the planned Zebulon Regional Sports Complex, a $100 million project already under way in Sterling Ranch.
That last pairing is the one that makes the site make sense: a regional sports complex and a regional rail stop within the same master-planned community.
Whose tracks
Mostly existing freight rail, which is the project's central claim to being deliverable.
North of Denver the route runs on BNSF, where the State has signed a term sheet for a 25-year access agreement, with a formal agreement targeted for 2026. South of Denver — the Douglas County stretch — it would follow the Consolidated Main Line and the "Joint Line," jointly owned by Union Pacific and BNSF, down through Colorado Springs to Pueblo.
What we'd want answered
- Whether a funding question actually reaches Douglas County ballots, and when
- Where exactly the platform lands near US-85 and Titan
- What park-and-ride capacity is planned, since the project explicitly frames the site as a regional park-and-ride opportunity
- How Link on Demand would feed it
We'll update this page as those firm up.
Sources: coloradoconnector.com — the Sterling Ranch station page, the project plan page, and the FAQ, all reviewed Aug. 26, 2026. Colorado Connector is operated by the Front Range Passenger Rail District.