Train of thought

I spend so much time discussing and reporting on railroad issues around the country that I seldom stop to consider what railroad needs might be right on my doorstep; so today, I will discuss, and perhaps fantasize a little, what the future for passenger railroads in New Mexico might be.

First let’s look at what the present state of passenger railroad reality in New Mexico, starting with Amtrak. Amtrak has two long-distance routes here. The Southwest Chief route is, by far, the longest, and has one daily train each way per day. The Sunset Limited cuts the southwest corner of the state from Texas to Arizona (see Union Pacific routing, below) and has only tri-weekly service in each direction. Amtrak’s fact sheet for FY2015 states that it employs 50 New Mexicans and did all its spending in Santa Fe, the state capitol. This suggests that Amtrak spending is of no benefit to most of the state, and what spending that was done was done on lobbying state officials.

There’s one other passenger railroad in the state, and that’s Rail Runner Express. Effectively a heavy-rail commuter line of some 96 miles, it provides seven-day service to fourteen stations, including several in the largest city, Albuquerque. In my opinion, this line would have cost less and provided better service if it had been built as all electric, or low-floor light rail or DMU operated instead of push-pull using diesel electric locomotives and octagonal-profile bi-level coaches. Rail Runner is currently, in my opinion, a drain on the state economy, running, as it does, with heavily subsidized fares and balloon payments coming on what by that time will be aging and outdated equipment. Transit oriented development was never a part of this scheme, so what is now starting to occur with Facebook's proposed data center in Los Lunas will not require developers who get on board to put one red cent into the train; period.

No plans are in the works to extend either Amtrak or Rail Runner Express to more stops or more frequent service in New Mexico, which brings me to the future.

Fortunately, both big western United States freight railroads have strong presences in New Mexico. The famous BNSF “transcon” bisects the state from Gallup on the west to Clovis on the east. It passes through Belen, bumping up against the southern terminal of Rail Runner Express as it does so. Union Pacific’s southern transcontinental route, the former (SP and RI) Golden State route, cuts the southern tier from the west through Lordsburg, Deming, and UP’s new $400 million gateway at Santa Teresa before reaching El Paso, Texas. From there, the route goes north through Alamogordo, New Mexico, eventually reaching Santa Rosa and then Tucumcari, where the connection with the old Rock Island route takes it northeast out the northeastern corner of the state to Dalhart, Texas. North of the segment of the former original AT&SF used by Rail Runner runs a BNSF freight line through Las Vegas, NM, and over Raton Pass into Colorado. BNSF also has a secondary route south from Belen all the way to a connection with the Golden State route with easy connection to El Paso.

Short of dismantling Rail Runner and/or putting wires over it, the first future priority for me would be making Amtrak’s Sunset a daily train, and then doubling the frequency on the route of the Chief, at least five days a week. Adding a morning departure from Chicago and Los Angeles each six hours ahead of the current scheduled departures would be ideal for Albuquerque, putting both morning trains through at 9:55 a.m. westbound and 6:10 a.m. eastbound. It wouldn’t be so bad to arrive in Chicago in the morning, though a two-something a.m. arrival in LA would probably be a chore.

Next, I’d like to see New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain (weed) High State of Colorado get together and fund a regional train up the front range from Albuquerque to Denver, where through cars could depart each Chief at Trinidad for Denver and at least one additional independent train (Mile High Cities anyone?) could make a comfortable overnight trip each way. Big hitch here would be using the UP-BNSF-owned Joint Line up through Pueblo and Colorado Springs. It’s already busy with freight traffic.

Third: Is a train from Albuquerque through Las Cruces, New Mexico, to El Paso so out of the question? This would be a day trip, and could easily run through on Rail Runner’s route north from Belen into Albuquerque? South of Belen, the tracks are there, and the trains could follow on this little-used freight route. In addition, this route would serve New Mexico’s three premier universities, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico State in Las Cruces, and New Mexico Tech in Socorro. I would bet that Fridays and Mondays would be sold out, standing-room-only trains, and football days would be moneymakers.

Finally, New Mexico has a great tourist line in the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic. Santa Fe once had a mining branch from Socorro to Magdalena. Most of the roadbed is still in place, and it’s a long, scenic climb up out of the Rio Grande Valley. Re-opening this line as a tourist route, maybe even with New Mexico Steam Locomotive’s former Santa Fe northern, when restoration is finished, would be the ultimate future railroad high.

©2016 – C. A. Turek – mistertrains@gmail.com

(Charles A. Turek is a writer and novelist based in Albuquerque, NM. After four decades working in areas of the insurance industry related to transportation, he now writes on all aspects of American railroading. Charles is a political conservative but believes in public funding of passenger rail as a part of the federal government’s constitutionally conservative obligation to provide for defense and public infrastructure so that private enterprise may flourish.)