Colorado and Kansas moved last year to secure a federal grant and to allocate money for track repairs on their sections of the route. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez in 2014 authorized $150,000 for a study of the Southwest Chief’s costs and benefits. Martinez was less willing than governors in Colorado and Kansas to commit to the project because she said Amtrak historically was the beneficiary of federal subsidies.
But now, even without New Mexico, Amtrak believes all three states have a sound plan in place for upkeep of the tracks. Magliari and New Mexico State Rep. Bobby Gonzales, D-Taos, say the new plan contains no timetable because all the states now have a strategy to cover costs on their part of the route. Tom Church, cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Transportation, says his agency is devising ways to pay for repairs in New Mexico.
“We are coordinating an effort with the Southwest Chief Coalition for the Northern New Mexico cities and counties to develop a TIGER grant through the federal Transportation Department,” Church’s staff members say.
Garden City, Kan., was the lead applicant for a group of governments that received a TIGER grant last year to help pay for track repairs on sections of track used by the train. Twelve communities in Colorado, four in Kansas, plus Amtrak, BNSF Railway and the Kansas Department of Transportation contributed a total of more than $9 million to secure the $12.5 million federal grant, says Sal Pace, chairman of the Southwest Chief Commission in Colorado.
New Mexico legislators ended their 60-day session this month without allocating any money for repairs. But State Sen. John Arthur Smith, chairman of the State Senate’s Finance Committee, says the $6.23 billion state budget contains money for local economic development projects.
Smith, D-Deming, said $37.5 million designated for economic development programs could give Martinez’s administration the money needed to begin maintenance or help obtain a TIGER grant in collaboration with the other two states.
Church’s staff members say BNSF would have an updated cost estimate for maintaining the line in New Mexico in April.
The next application for a TIGER grant for the Southwest Chief project will include Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico, Pace says. “Time is of the essence because we’re told the grant might not be around next year,” he said.
My memories of the Chief was as a kid, riding the true SF Super Chief since I don’t live around the area I could care less about what happens, seems like our national passenger network is dependent on states, unbelieve
I'm pleased to see the SW Chief will stay on its more traditional routing. Bypassing Albuquerque does not make sense. I've enjoyed the layover stop and meeting the native American children who have come by to show off and sell their artworks, jewelry, furs, and other items during the service stop. It's truly a tradition.
I have lost track of the number of trips (10 just last year) I have taken on this train between Newton and Galesburg and Chicago and on to other connecting points. Glad to hear it's going to stick around.
I sure learn a lot when I read the comments of those protesting this and that. The feds, states, Amtrak and local communities could solve their problems if they absorbed the advice offered by so many who have the answers. In the meantime put me down as one who's pleased the Chief remains on this line, how ever it came about. All that formidable freight traffic made contemplating the Transcon truly bewildering while losing a historic scenic route.
It is amazing that only one person from the three effected states has given a statement. I for one have been working on this project for about four years with other users of Amtrak #3 and #4. For some one who uses this transportation 5 – 7 times a year, it is a great benefit for us in rural Colorado.
I cannot comment on other items because I do not come in contact with or use other interests. Amtrak doesn't NEED to switch the line to Oklahoma and Texas. Too much traffic and not set up for passenger service.
Amtrak NEEDS to switch the SW Chief to the Southern Transcon if they expect to continue to receive sufficient funding from the Feds to support the SW Chief. BNSF nor the state of NM are going to fund any maintenance of the NM portion of the Raton Pass Route. Its either the Transcon or no train in a few years. Hmm…maybe the Feds are encouraging the Raton Pass Route as a way of justifying lowering funding and eventually doing away with trains # 3 and 4.
At least that horrible trackage in western Kansas will be repaired. I also noticed the Santa Fe Depot in Holly, Colo. has been restored. I would that depot will become another stop for the Southwest Chief.
So there is much rejoicing here because Federal dollars will be spent subsidizing the route instead of dollars from the States that benefit from it? Really?
And some of you are saying that Amtrak initially avoiding using Federal dollars and preferring all states benefiting from the service pay for it is somehow extortion and even comparable to murderous Mafiosi? Really?
Here are some realities to mull over:
1. The Federal government is dysfunctional. Expecting it to adequately fund the entire transportation system of the entire country is… overly optimistic is the politest term I can think of.
2. The NEC is (finally) making a profit. Yes it is. Anyone who's arguing otherwise is usually protesting that there's not enough public information about Amtrak's finances, but the truth is that it's practically impossible for it not to be when ONE SINGLE TRAIN makes over half a billion dollars a year in net revenues, and that train is one of many that makes far more than it's operating costs.
In this environment, as time goes on, fewer and fewer parts of the country are going to be in favor of Amtrak subsidies. New Yorkers pay Amtrak both through higher ticket prices and through Federal taxes for a service in the South West. Increasing numbers of them are going to be unhappy with that as time goes on.
3. Other states are chipping in on this. Why is New Mexico special?
States that benefit from Amtrak should be contributing to it. Amtrak should be better funded, but there's absolutely no reason why most of that funding should come from the Feds. Sticking to that formula leaves Amtrak at the mercy of the Congressional micromanagers, leaves Amtrak running bizarrely silly routes just to buy votes, and makes it more likely that swathes of the country will suddenly lose passenger service once altogether once enough profitable, self sustaining, passenger rail services are up and running throughout the rest of the country.
The dollars involved here pale beside the highway and waterway boondoggles; for example there currently is in excess of $4 billion worth of highway projects ongoing in the state of Wisconsin, an extra lane here, a rebuilt intersection there. Talk about misplaced priorities…and not only in Wisconsin; for example the new Tappan Zee bridge, across a wide point of the Hudson River will, surprise, surprise, have no rail transit capability.
How many BNSF trains use the Raton Pass route daily?
The Raton Pass route may again be valuable to BNSF when the Transcon reaches capacity for freight trains. It can also be a viable detour route when the Transcon is blocked by accidents and natural disaster.
Kudos to New Mexico for making Amtrak blink. The liberal Colorado governor melted under Amtrak's version of Goodfellas. Raton Pass is extremely scenic, but the line through Amarillo serves more people.
Well, at least Susana the Train-Killer couldn't stop this work in progress.
I hope this works as well as Amtrak is hoping. If not, I would rather see it go via Amarillo than not go at all.
Now, to improve the ridership, how about sections of the train to Phoenix and Las Vegas (from Barstow), 2 popular markets for Midwesterners. The additional revenue might even be more than the additional cost.
When is Amtrak going to buy New order of Superlines cars??
New Mexico, a little Western state, stared down Amtrak, which was behaving
like an extortionist.
The extortionist blinked. Now its spokesman is charged with the task of damage
control, which is why the statements from Amtrak in the TRAINS.COM item and
in the Santa Fe New Mexican sound awkward, at best.
Meanwhile, Amtrak goes on spending and spending on the NEC (Nothing Else Counts).
I wish I was as confident as the title of the article made me believe. The route is not safe until the grant monies, or other funding, actually come in, and then the line is only safe if the amounts needed to repair and maintain have not increased due to inflation and/or poor estimated costs from the beginning.
I rather like the comment attributed to Margaret Thatcher.
"Amtrak has $750,000,000 in free new federal money every year"
This "free new money" comment reflects an appalling cluelessness about the realities of federal budgetary spending, and is part of the reason we run an ever-increasing deficit.
"The problem with spending other people's money is that eventually you run out of other people." — popularly attributed to Margaret Thatcher
Nice to see something happen that makes sense/.
It's more like New Mexico called Amtrak's bluff, and Amtrak blinked. Amtrak has $750,000,000 in free new federal money every year–they just choose to spend it elsewhere. Amtrak is free to reprogram a tiny fraction of that to invest into the Southwest Chief route if they want to. In any case, under what theory do the western states, alone, have to put up state money to save national system basic routes? That's a purely federal/Amtrak responsibility.