New Mexico Rail Runner Express

Initial operations were phased in throughout 2006 on a 46-mile segment of former Santa Fe Railway trackage from Belen north to Albuquerque and beyond to Bernalillo, serving nine stations; the Albuquerque-Bernalillo leg began July 14, with service from Albuquerque south to Los Lunas beginning December 11; service to Belen began Feb. 2, 2007. At the Rio Bravo/Airport station, shuttle and bus connections will be available to the Albuquerque International Sunport.

The state of New Mexico bought the trackage from BNSF Railway, in a $75 million agreement signed December 2005 that will transfer ownership of 300 route-miles of trackage to the state, from Belen Junction north to Trinidad, Colo., including the New Mexico mountain crossings of Raton Pass and Glorieta Pass. The transfer of ownership will take place in phases: Belen-Bernalillo in 2006, Bernalillo-Lamy in 2007, and Lamy-Trinidad in 2008. BNSF will retain rights to use the trackage for freight operations.

Rail Runner service is expected to extend north to the state capital of Santa Fe sometime in late 2008. The state and city of Santa Fe in 2005 purchased the 18-mile short line Santa Fe Southern, a former Santa Fe branch linking the main line at Lamy, N.M., with the capital city of Santa Fe.

Rail Runner’s equipment consists of five MP36PH-3C locomotives built by MotivePower and 10 bilevel cars from Bombardier. The trains are decorated in a striking paint scheme that features a sweeping, stylized rendition of a roadrunner, the state bird of New Mexico. Operations and maintenance are provided by Herzog Transit services.

The commuter rail service was approved in 2003 by the New Mexico State Legislature as part of Governor [Bill] Richardson’s Investment Partnership (GRIP), a $1.6 billion transportation package, of which Rail Runner was the only non-roadway capital project in the entire bill. Rail Runner service implementation was spearheaded by the Mid-Region Council of Governments and the New Mexico Department of Transportation.

Total costs for Phase I of the project (Belen to Bernalillo) amounted to $135 million, which included $75 million in state money for the purchase of train cars and locomotives, the design and construction of stations, and track and signal improvements. An additional $50 million in state money was allocated for purchase of the track and rights-of-way from Belen to Bernalillo. Sandoval County contributed $10 million for the purchase of an additional train set, and for station development in Sandoval County. Phase II costs of the project (Bernalillo to Santa Fe) are estimated between $240 and $255 million. This includes the purchase of existing track and construction of new track, design and construction of stations, and the acquisition of more cars and locomotives.