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Commuter Trains to Get New Tracks South of Santa Fe

Posted on: Thursday, 18 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

Aug. 18--Commuter trains rolling into Santa Fe from Albuquerque will travel part of the way on new tracks that connect existing rail lines, if state Transportation Department recommendations become reality.

But a final decision on exactly where the tracks will go won't come until after state officials gather public comments.

Under a plan promoted by Gov. Bill Richardson, a commuter-train service is scheduled to begin in metropolitan Albuquerque late this year, extending as far south as Belen and as far north as Bernalillo. By 2008, the trains are scheduled to reach Santa Fe.

To apply for federal money for the Santa Fe leg, the state has to go through a formal process called "alternatives analysis." A public meeting is scheduled for 6:30 tonight at the State Police Law Enforcement Complex, 4491 Cerrillos Road, where transportation officials will present the rail plan as the best way to improve the Interstate 25 highway corridor between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Transportation planner Pat Oliver-Wright said the department's consultants looked at 17 options that included magnetic levitation trains and adding lanes to the interstate.

Oliver-Wright said adding highway lanes increases the chances of accidents, which can add to travel delays. As a result, the department is choosing to build the rail line as the most economical and environmentally sound alternative, she said.

A large part of the Albuquerque-Santa Fe route will use tracks owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, but since those tracks turn away from Santa Fe at the bottom of La Bajada hill, officials needed another way to get passengers into the capital city.

Two rail alignments are on the table:

Community District: The option rated No. 1 by the state involves building 15 miles of new track that would angle southwest from the Santa Fe Southern route at a point south of the Santa Fe city limits. The new tracks would cross N.M. 14 south of Rancho Viejo and connect to the BNSF tracks near Cochiti Lake east of the interstate.

The estimated cost for new tracks and stations is $317.5 million. Estimated travel time between Albuquerque and Santa Fe is about 73 minutes.

Lamy Bypass: A track that already connects Santa Fe and the BNSF tracks is the 18-mile Santa Fe Southern route now owned by the state. The commuter train could use those tracks if improved, including the addition of a section of new track to bypass curves near Lamy. The estimated capital costs total $225.8 million, with travel time between Albuquerque and Santa Fe at about 90 minutes.

Oliver-Wright said the state is leaning toward the first plan because travel times on the commuter rail have to be competitive with car travel for the rail service to succeed.

County Commissioner Jack Sullivan, who represents the area the new tracks would cross, said he hopes the state will consider concerns raised by residents in the San Marcos area about how the train would change life there.

"I know it's called the locally preferred alternative, but there are a lot of locals in my district who don't prefer it," Sullivan said Monday after Oliver-Wright made a presentation to members of the Regional Planning Authority.

Oliver-Wright said the community-district alignment wouldn't become the official preferred alternative unless local governing bodies agreed. The state would work with private landowners to purchase rights of way for the new route.

Independent of the state project, officials in the Santa Fe region might get another pot of federal money to pay for a commuter rail line that would pick up passengers in Eldorado and bring them into Santa Fe on the Santa Fe Southern route.

Tom Williams, transit director for the city, said Congress has authorized $5.4 million for that project, but the money has not been appropriated. Williams said no one is pursuing the Eldorado link until regional leaders know the money will actually get here. Then they will decide if and how to keep working, he said.

Meanwhile, the first phase of the state's commuter project, now called New Mexico Rail Runner Express, is on track to begin carrying Albuquerque-area commuters from Belen and Bernalillo and points between. Ten passenger cars manufactured in Canada are slated to arrive in Albuquerque next week. The cars, which cost more than $2 million each, will be pulled by engines made in Idaho that should arrive in October.

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Source: The Santa Fe New Mexican

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