Correction: The 6.2-mile stretch of the northwest rail from Union Station to Westminster will open this summer, not begin construction.

Longmont City Council members tried to make a few things abundantly clear to RTD officials during the joint meeting Thursday night — they want the rail and they want it sooner rather than later.

They want the rail sooner even if it means the promised commuter rail line is not the “Cadillac” option, as both Councilman Brian Bagley and City Manager Harold Dominguez referred to the current service plan.

The meeting started off with Regional Transportation District general manager and CEO David Genova affirming that RTD is “100 percent committed” to finishing FasTracks, the regional transit plan district voters approved in 2004 along with a sales tax increase to pay for it.

The FasTracks plan included a 41-mile commuter rail line from Denver to Longmont, through Westminster and Boulder. RTD staff said they are still in talks with Burlington North Santa Fe rail line but the whole project right now is expected to cost between $1.1 billion and $1.5 billion. The first 6.2-mile segment from Union Station to Westminster is funded through a public-private partnership and is expected to open this summer.

RTD officials could not articulate a definite plan for funding or beginning the rest of the northwest rail line, however. That didn’t set well with some councilmembers.

“We continue to pay into this pot and we see Union Station getting the royal treatment. We see the A Line getting the royal treatment,” Bagley said, as Councilman Gabe Santos chimed in about public art in the brand-new RTD commuter rail line from Union Station to Denver International Airport.

Bagley said he didn’t want to hear any more about Boulder and Bus Rapid Transit, referring to the idea that city of Boulder officials are acquiesced with increased RTD bus service, so they don’t advocate for the commuter rail.

“I hear a lot of ‘Boulder doesn’t want it. They’re happy.’ They don’t get a say. The people voted,” Bagley said. “I voted. We all voted. That decision was made in 2004. So I would appreciate it if you would tell Boulder, ‘Thank you very much, but the train is coming.’ We have to figure out how we’re going to do it.”

Judy Lubow, a member on the RTD board of directors who represents the majority of Longmont city limits, said she understood what Bagley said, but that practicality was a different matter.

“When things get done, they get done when there’s a united corridor. It seems to get the feds excited, it gets donors excited and it has a been a real practical problem in the northwest corridor,” Lubow said.

Bagley said RTD had excuses.

“A lot of the things you’re mentioning really are just excuses. The reasons — ‘Boulder’s not interested, we’re longer than everybody else, we’re at the end of the line so of course we’re last.’ They’re excuses,” Bagley said.

Councilwoman Joan Peck suggested going to RTD voters to ask them to expand the district’s bonding capacity with the agreement that an eventual bond would go to the northwest corridor. The possibility of asking all RTD voters to approve a measure that would benefit the northwest stirred some heated conversation between Peck and Santos.

Peck argued that voters understand that a bond is not the same as another tax, while Santos doubted the entire district would pass such a measure.

Santos, the longest-serving member of the council, added that he’s been through this same process around the northwest rail with three RTD general managers now.

“How many of you guys are going to be here in 2025?” Santos asked, gesturing to the row of RTD officials. Peck had referenced a Longmont council resolution asking RTD to fund the northwest rail by 2026. “I’ve heard 2042, 2070 and some of those aren’t doable. 2025? That’s 21 years after the original vote and Longmont still has not seen dime one.”

When the question came around to how to move forward, RTD FasTracks Teammember Henry Stopplecamp said he was going to speak “as the engineer in the room.”

“The biggest thing out there is the service plan. It’s bidirectional and it’s 55 trains per day. There isn’t a commuter rail line in the United States that operates so frequently for so few people,” Stopplecamp said.

Stopplecamp said if Longmont and the other cities in the northwest rail line corridor could come together and agree on something simpler, it could be easier and quicker to fund, although he couldn’t give an exact discounted price.

“I think the message we’re sending, again with me being one of seven, is that a creative plan works. A train in the morning and a train at night with bus during the day? It’s something to get started on and get momentum,” Bagley said.

Councilman Jeff Moore agreed, saying that with municipal projects you often have to build the foundation first and then establish whether it can support more structure.

Santos said looking at the service plan is a starting point and he disagreed with Stopplecamp’s reference to a previous study that showed low ridership from Longmont to Denver.

“If you build it, they will come,” Santos said. “People do want to go to Denver for ballgames, for football games, you name it.”

Gayle Allen was one of about 10 or 15 members of the public that attended the joint meeting. She said she comes from Chicago originally and wants the train rather than bus service.

“There are jobs that I wanted in Denver but I didn’t want to commute,” Allen said. “Train service is better in bad weather situations and is more efficient. Bus service will never equal train service.”

Allen said she was glad to hear the council challenge RTD.

“Personally, I was glad the councilmembers talked about the amount of excuses RTD makes as to why they take our money and they don’t provide service,” Allen said.

Tom Brophy also attended the meeting and said he agreed with the council on some points.

“I do agree with council that Longmont kinda gets shorted and it was nice to see them united around that,” Brophy said. “The council all wants the same thing. They just need to get that across to RTD and, it sounds like, to Boulder.”

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci