KRQE-TV in Albuquerque, N.M., is reporting that local city government is considering the construction of a spur into Balloon Fiesta Park to provide New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter service to the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
The proposed spur would be constructed to address traffic congestion into the festival. The city also hopes a ramp from nearby I-25 will also be constructed.
The proposal effectively brings Rail Runner back into the overall discussion of how to most effectively get people into and out of the balloon fiesta. Last fall, Rail Runner Communications Manager Augusta Meyers told KOAT Channel 7 news that previous efforts by Rail Runner’s operator, the Rio Metro Regional Transit District, to bring people into the festival by rail were not cost-effective. Despite 7,500 passes being purchased for the rail service to the balloon fiesta, Meyers said Rail Runner did not break even in providing the service.
KRQE-TV reports that a feasibility study recommended an $8.4 million spur into the park that could bring in as many as 1,000 people at a time. Attendance numbers for the balloon fiesta have regularly totaled in the hundreds-of-thousands each year.
Meyer added that Rail Runner still intends to continue normal train service during the festival. Rail Runner has struggled over the past several years with declining ridership and criticism for high fares.
KRQE reports that the proposed Rail Runner spur into Balloon Fiesta Park could be constructed in time for the 2021 festival, pending approval and funding.
Please keep comments Clean and Professional. We are here to learn and not be treated like morons. Thank you.
Charles and Joseph,
The Southwest Chief connects with NMRR in Albuquerque, so there is a rail connection, and during the Balloon Festival, Albuquerque becomes a concentrated population center…were the hell do you think most people stay that don’t camp? I’m sure they could easily get 1000 a day if the spur dropped people off right at the festival grounds.
Mr. Landey: Amen brother!
…and New Mexico didn’t want to invest so much as a shiny new dime to help improve the ATSF line over Raton Pass and insure that Amtrak’s Southwest Chief remains operating over it…
A freeway exit and an $8.4 million dollar rail spur for an annual event? Good God! Are these people insane.
Let’s see, 1000 people times a 40-year payback. Assuming zero interest, that’s $2,000 per passenger above and beyond the operational cost of the train.
That assume 1,000 passengers, which only works bringing people from a concentrated population center, which Albuquerque is not. What happens if the train has only thirty people on it?
This country has gone bat s… crazy and that includes rail advocates. Maybe the reason we can’t get anything done in this country is that we’ve turned into a nation of blubbering morons, like RPA is turning into. We can’t have a rail system like Germany that actually carries millions of people from place to place they need to go with excellent connections on each end. So instead of that we carry people once a year from Albuquerque (where there are no connections) to a desert.
Rail Runner barely has its head above water as it is.
Mr. McFadden: I agree!
Item: With funding coming down the line from DC to upgrade track over Raton Pass, do you see a remote possibility that Rail Runner operations might be extended to serve additional communties, perhaps even to LaJunta? Considering both New Mexico and Colorado governing bodies own the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic narrow gauge railroad, why not create a joint venture in standard gauge to open up business and tourist opportunities to this region as well?
Rather than a spur, they should build a balloon track.
Very good Mr McFadden.