OmniTRAX 40th Anniversary Marks Four Decades of Rail

The OmniTRAX 40th anniversary marks four decades since a Colorado short line became the foundation of a 35-operation rail network serving industrial markets across North America.

OmniTRAX 40th anniversary returns to Colorado

OmniTRAX marked the milestone on July 15⁠ at the site of its first railroad, where elected officials from four Northern Colorado communities joined company representatives and Great Western Railway employees. The anniversary connected the company’s present-day network with the 1986 acquisition that began its rail operations. 

“Great Western Railroad will always be our first railroad, our first community, and the first proof that collaborative local partnerships can achieve extraordinary things,” OmniTRAX CEO Colby Tanner said.

The company’s chief executive described Northern Colorado as part of OmniTRAX’s identity, not merely the location where its history began. 

Industrialist Pat Broe purchased the Great Western Railway when the line faced closure and the region risked losing rail service. He then established an adjoining industrial park intended to attract businesses that relied on rail in their supply chains.

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OmniTRAX said the resulting rail-served development has attracted more than $300 million in capital investment to Northern Colorado. Over the same period, the company expanded to 35 rail operations⁠ serving ports, industrial parks and freight customers across the United States. 

OmniTRAX 40th anniversary highlights freight connections

The Great Western Railway⁠ remains central to that story. The railroad operates about 80 miles of track in Northern Colorado and serves the 3,000-acre Great Western Industrial Park, where customers include businesses in agriculture, energy and manufacturing. 

Its network connects with Union Pacific in Greeley and with BNSF in Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland. Those interchanges give local shippers access to the wider North American freight rail system while supporting transloading, railcar storage and repair services around the industrial park. 

Taken together, the anniversary shows how OmniTRAX combined short-line operations with industrial development, using the Great Western model as the foundation for a broader rail portfolio and long-term regional investment.