Southwest Chief route to get improvements... FINALLY!

[Warren J]

The current release of the federal transportation funds recommended a grant for restoring the BNSF line from Raton Pass to Lamy NM; this would greatly improve upon the current 10-mph Southwest Chief speed limit through this portion of New Mexico.  Colorado and Kansas had already procured funding for their portions of this route but was stymied by New Mexico governor, Susana Martinez, not wanting to provide any funding for NM's section of the route.  The rest of the route from Lamy to Albuquerque is funded by state ownership of the NM RailRunner, another rail project this governor has unsuccessfully wanted gone.

[CMStPnP]

She is right about RailRunner, New Mexico couldn't afford it and never should have built it.    

[PJS1]

CMStPnP

She is right about RailRunner, New Mexico couldn't afford it and never should have built it. 

And maybe she is right about not wanting to put any of New Mexico's taxpayer monies into improving the railroad right-of-way for a once a day passenger train that carries less than one percent of the intercity passengers along its route.

I have driven through New Mexico on numerous occasions.  I never cease to be amazed at the contrast between the beauty of many parts of the state and the abject poverty of many of its residents.  If New Mexico has any spare cash lying around, it should spend it on education, etc.  It does not need to squander it on an Amtrak train. 

[runnerdude48]

They should run it via Amarillo.  Faster and better routing.

[CMStPnP]

runnerdude48

They should run it via Amarillo.  Faster and better routing.

Agree, not saying Texas would have paid for the reroute but.....

Texas has a larger discretionary budget and much more political influence in the Congress than all those Plain states combined.    They could have approached Texas with a package of pay for the reroute or lose the train.    However Amtrak is all for spreading LD trains to cover as much geography as possible for political reasons.    They are not interested in any rationalizations to the LD network unless forced from the outside NOR are they interested in even minor revenue enhancement ideas because they view the LD network as a public service.   

I am hoping they are finally seeing the light with the Diner Menu modifications and introducing (finally) something over $25 that was better.    They should also find a way for Sleeping Car Passenger Add-On's and perhaps some for fee items in the Lounge Car (movies?).     Instead of trying to offer everything for free or with a subsidy.    For example they could have kept the stupid wine tasting event on the Pacific Parlor car had they charged for it........but nope, they eliminated it entirely for political reasons.

Put the Piano back in the Lower Part of the Lounge Car and let any rider play for cash tips.    Just think of that for a moment, really they are only paying for the piano and to keep it reasonably tuned but they get somewhat decent piano music and a paying passenger can reduce their fare or earn money by playing for tips.......how much would that cost the company?    When was the last time anyone got sued for bad piano music?

[YoHo1975]

The thing on the Pacific Parlour car was that it was a First Class Amenity. If they had opened it up to Coach as an add on, they would have made a "f'n" mint. I don't even...Run it next to the regular lounge car. Offer the tasting as an add on. Especially on that route. I know lots of people that are interested in taking the Coast Starlight just as a vacation. People without particular interest in trains. Why they so dumb? Back on this specific topic. Th people of Southeast Co and North East NM shouldn't have the political clout to maintain this train route, but they do. And there's a part of me that thinks there IS some value in maintaining this connection to the wider world...but it's not a business value and so if they're going to do it. the government needs to accept that it's value is beyond monetary and fund appropriately at the Federal level. If that won't happen, then they should kill the train as sad as that would be.

[Atchee]

Back when the RailRunner was proposed New Mexico had a boom going on and having an alternative to driving between Santa Fe and Albuquerque made a lot of sense.  The bust that came later derailed a lot of things including NMs purchase of the rest of the line from Lamy to the state line.  Of course THAT part of the scheme was to tie in to a hopefully future Colorado front range transport system that is needed now.

As to where New Mexico spends any "spare" money as it relates to the economic status of it's citizens, I think it jumps into those topics for discussion elsewhere.  I don't think you can go anywhere in the country and not find people in dire economic straits and projects going on that someone feels could have the resources spent better elsewhere.

 

 

[YoHo1975]

Yeah, the Economic downturn hurt a lot of the mountain west. People love to talk about how Ca is bleeding people, but that really fell off during the downturn. The issue with corridor service is that unlike the midwest and west coast, the viable intermediate stops are few and far between. Ignoring congestion issues for a moment, I'm trying to imagine how fast a trip from Say Denver to Albuquerque would be. The Southwest Chief takes 6 hours to mosey from Trinidad to Albuquerque. So, what?9 hours? 10? Again, assuming no Joint Line congestion. How congested is the joint line with Coal shipments dropping off? Is it a viable commuter corridor without restoring full double track right now? Could it run like Pacific Surfliner does where most runs are Pueblo to denver with one or 2 continuing on to Trinidad or even 1 round trip to Albuquerque each day? Surfliner runs 10 hours from SLO to SD, but there's nothing but urban corridor in the middle. This would put the urban areas on either end.

[diningcar]

The need, if any, is between Denver and Pueblo. I have driven I-25 many - many times and find there is little traffic south of Pueblo.The most is found between Albuquerque and Santa Fe and the State of NM created the Road Runner railway to alleviate it. The State has found it not to be as popular or necessary as the politicians projected. Many riders are on it just for the novelty of a train ride; not the need to travel from one to the other.

[YoHo1975]

Understood, but part of that is the economic downturn. My company built an office in Rio Rancho around the time of the downturn. This type of activity dropped off after as there was no need or desire to build new facilities. More jobs like those my company generates would drive up Suburban and Ex-urban transportation needs.