You’re not imagining things, Fort Collins train watchers: Some trains rumbling through the middle of town are longer than you’re used to seeing.

Freight trains up to 3 miles long have been coming through the city with increasing frequency since January, according to a memo to City Council from city Traffic Engineer Joe Olson.

In March, there were three long trains. In May, there were 11; in June, there were 12. As of July 11, the city had seen 10 long trains, nearly one a day.

The “mega” trains, as Olson calls them, are in addition to regular train traffic on the BNSF Railway tracks that parallel College Avenue through much of Fort Collins. Typical trains are about a mile long.

The biggest impact of a mega train is on traffic. Instead of blocking an intersection 3 to 4 minutes, like most trains, a mega train might take 15 minutes or more to pass through an intersection.

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Traffic backs up farther than usual and takes longer to recover. The most noticeable impacts are where the BNSF tracks cross College Avenue near Cherry Street, Olson’s memo noted. But impacts are felt all along the line, with several major east-west intersections blocked at the same time.

Total blocked time on College Avenue at Cherry Street in June hit 30 hours, 52 minutes. In February, the total monthly blockage at the intersection was 16 hours, 30 minutes, Olson stated.

BNSF is running longer trains as part of an efficiency study in Colorado and across its 28-state network, said spokesperson Joe Sloan.

The long trains through Fort Collins have consisted of empty coal cars being hauled north, Sloan said. The company is looking at routes with enough track availability that a longer train doesn’t have to stop.

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There is no regulatory limit to the length of trains, Olson stated in his memo. The city has limited options for dealing with them.

A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office noted the increased length of trains across the country and that the Federal Railroad Administration is looking into potential safety issues at highway crossings.

The agency recommended that the FRA come up with a strategy to share information from its safety study with state and local governments.

City traffic officials also are tracking train blockages along the Great Western Railway line. The railroad has been running shorter and more frequent trains than usual while crews do maintenance work on tracks between Fort Collins and Windsor.

Intersections affected by the Great Western traffic include Timberline and Prospect roads, Lemay and Riverside avenues, and Riverside and Mulberry Street.

The switching yard shared by BNSF and Great Western along East Vine Drive also has been busy, resulting in a bump in blockages on Lemay near Vine.

Great Western’s maintenance work is expected to wrap up in August, Olson stated.

Between mega trains or short trains, there’s no shortage of challenges in getting around Fort Collins this summer.

Kevin Duggan is a senior columnist and reporter. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by subscribing: See Coloradoan.com/subscribe to learn how.