Posted on 12/06/2010 7:47:26 PM PST by CedarDave
Just as state officials grapple with a huge budget shortfall, here comes a multimillion-dollar bill for 200 miles of railroad track the state of New Mexico has no plans to use.
Records show that the state Transportation Commission voted in August to set aside $2 million in next year's budget for capital improvements along the stretch of train track from Lamy to the Colorado border.
That's on top of the $5 million the state promised to pay BNSF Railway Co. to purchase that same stretch of track. State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Megan Arredondo told the Journal that the additional $2 million would pay for major capital and replacement projects on the route — which is now used only by Amtrak since BNSF discontinued freight service on the stretch.
A "definitive" funding source for the $2 million has yet to be identified, she said, adding that no general fund revenue would be used. The state general fund has a projected $400 million shortfall next year.
The agenda for the state Transportation Commission's August meeting said the $2 million would come from the state road fund, which is derived from taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, vehicle registration fees and weight distance taxes paid by truckers.
That fund is used to repair roads and highways and for state transportation projects and operations. [emphasis mine] The road fund has also seen a drop in revenue in recent years.
In addition to capital issues, the state is expecting to pay at least some of the maintenance costs on the 200-mile stretch.
"As part of the contemplated NMDOT agreements with BNSF and Amtrak, NMDOT will need to maintain the railroad to allow safe train operation at current speeds," Arredondo said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Bottom line is that Richardson wanted only the portion of track from Belen to Lamy for the Rail Runner. However, BNSF would not lease the line or sell just a portion and so the state caved and bought the whole route. Now, in addition to BNSF having routed all freight traffic to the main Belen-Clovis-Amarillo transcon, Amtrak is likely to route its once daily train to that route also as it does not want to pick up the costs of maintenance. It has already been forced to reduce track speed in Kansas to a leisurely 40 mph due to poor track (speed on the transcon is 79 mph).
NM list PING!
(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for anyone to use. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list. For ABQ Journal articles requiring a subscription, scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the article for free after watching a short video commercial.)
That’s a Willie Green fantasy for sure!
There was a guy on FR who swore that passenger rail was the wave of the furture and was a boon to any economy that had them...
How about they put a big toll booth on nthat railroad and let the AMTRAK riders pay for it???
Willie is saddened.
furture = future.
furture = furniture.
The operable word is "was." JimRob didn't ban him but told him to shut up about passenger rail or he would be zotted. His account still shows active.
Libertarian ping
As a former NM resident, I have come to the conclusion that if the USA was the Galactic Republic, New Mexico would be Tattoine.
Richardson must be planning to run for something. Like Obama, he needs a slush fund; the $2,000,000 of other people’s money is that slush fund.
Didn’t Atlas Shrugged have something like that?
No passenger rail thread is complete without that clip!
Hahhahaaaaaa. Chinese have a 300 mph bullet train... we have nothing more than sightseeing Amtrak routes that rarely run on time....
Pathetic.
Republicans, democrats, Indys. You’re all full of crap when it comes to this country....
Already there’s compromise in the wind..
Random thought of the day...
Hey Lamy!? I've got a couple of their pens. Nice designs, good feel/heft, and they write very smoothly. Of course, Lamy writing instruments is a German owned company... ;-)
The state is missing a lot of revenue by keeping round trip fares at rock bottom prices. The ABQ to Santa Fe senior fare is $3 one-way; a round trip fare for a senior is $5 if purchased online ($7 and $8 otherwise).
Consider that if you go to Santa Fe and have a meal at just about any restaurant is will cost you $15-20 minimum, more with a drink. The ABQ/SF route is very popular with tourists so they could double or even triple the fare and it would still get lots of patronage. The Martinez administration needs to look very seriously at fare increases if it intends to keep the RR running.
Richardson’s RailRunner — a bad idea whose time never was — once again zaps it to the good folks of New Mexico.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.