Today the East and West sides of Salt Lake City are divided by the railroad tracks of Union Pacific and the Utah Transit Authority. These at-grade railroad tracks use a inadequate central station while the historic Rio Grande Depot looks down from a block closer to the city. This impacts Salt Lake City and the entire Wasatch Front with slower trains and a less than desirable train station in downtown. 

To keep the temporary alignment and station is to keep a divide that has been in the city since 1870 when the railroad came south from Ogden. To construct the Rio Grande Plan's subgrade Train Box is to give the Rio Grande Depot a purpose again and to bury the rails reconnecting the community. 

With the Olympics coming to Salt Lake City in 2034 the time to act is NOW! If you want to see the Rio Grande Depot properly used again and/or if you want to breakdown barriers between the east and west sides of Salt Lake City we need you to tell your elected officials its TIME for the Rio Grande Plan!

Use our LinkTree to contact your elected officials today!

History of the Rio Grande Depot

In 1999 in preparation for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, the rails that lead to the Rio Grande Depot were removed and passenger operations were moved to the temporary station at Salt Lake Central. Today the Rio Grande Depot sits alone with no future purpose.  

In 2020 Christian Lenhart and Cameron Blakely proposed the Rio Grande Plan, a project with the goal to bury the rails on the west side of the city under 500W (the historic rail corridor) and reconnect those rails to the Rio Grande Depot. This would restore the Depot to its original purpose of welcoming people to Salt Lake City with the added benefit of removing up to eight railroad crossings which will remove a significant barrier between the east and west sides.  

In 2022 Salt Lake City commissioned a Screening Analysis to determine the feasibility of the citizen proposed Rio Grande Plan. In 2023 the study was published with a larger scope than the citizen plan and a higher cost, but it proved that the Rio Grande Plan is feasible.

Today the Rio Grande Plan is being pushed by a group of citizen volunteers who want to see their community brought together around the 113-year-old Depot.

The Via Rio Grande team has absolutely zero financial stake in the outcome. We encourage those who have signed the petition to reach out to the city, county, state, and federal officials to show them that this isn't just a project pushed by a few engineers, but a community effort to give the Depot a purpose and reconnect the community. Use the LinkTree to contact these officials.

Stay on the lookout for events where you can make your voice heard on this issue (we will update the petition as important events come up). Join our Discord or follow our  Instagram to stay up to date.