New Mexico’s commuter rail line faces financial burdens (Richardson's railroad: Expensive legacy)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | May 7, 2015 | Vik Jolly , AP

[CedarDave]

When launched in 2006, a New Mexico commuter rail line that would connect Albuquerque and Santa Fe was hailed by supporters as a progressive step toward taking people out of cars and putting them on the train.

But as impressive a feat as it was for a poor state’s huge foray into mass public transit, it comes at a price: The train earned $2.8 million last fiscal year in fares from more than a million riders but cost $28.4 million to operate. And even bigger amounts of red ink are looming over the horizon.

Now the question of whether the huge state investment in the 97-mile commuter rail system is worth it will be visited anew after state lawmakers asked the New Mexico Department of Transportation to conduct a study on the long-term finances of the line. The study will look at everything from future costs and debt obligations to examining whether the state should sell the Rail Runner and replace it with a bus service.

[CedarDave]

Can't excerpt more due to story writer affiliation, but here the financial facts:

• The state is paying about $28 million a year in debt for the train until 2024 (total $56.4 million per year).
• Balloon payments due in 2025 and 2026 are $112 million each year for a total of $224 million.
• Infrastructure costs total just under 1/2 billion dollars ($493 million).
• The NM DOT estimates total debt repayment over 20 years, including principal and interest, to be nearly $784 million.
• Fares are dirt cheap - average fare is $2.47 for an average trip length of 40.7 miles. That results in revenue of 6.1 cents per passenger mile.
• The NM State Rail Plan 2014 shows total average weekday boardings system-wide in 2012 as 3,789. If a rider boards twice a day (to work and return), the average total average daily ridership is just under 1,900 persons per weekday.
• Weekday boardings range from 819 in downtown Albuquerque to 48 at Isleta Pueblo.

This was "Richardson's Railroad" in so many ways. He thought it would enhance his environmental resume so he could run for President in 2008. He snookered the Democratic legislature in to buying track from BNSF shortly after he was elected in 2002 and low-balled the cost. He avoided certain federal transit funds so he could fast track construction (he also avoided the cost-benefit requirement that would have to pass to get those funds). He diverted approximately 64% of state highway funds from roads to build the rail system. He called his projects GRIP for "Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership."

Included in deferred projects was widening of congested I-25 north from Albuquerque to Bernalillo which was a two-lane each way from its original interstate highway construction until recent completion. The highway north of Bernalillo to Santa Fe is not expected to be at capacity until the mid-2020s.

The current article quotes a Brooking's Institution senior fellow (Clifford Winston) who studies urban rail systems as saying it’s questionable whether a train is worth the cost in a state like New Mexico with low population density. If the costs and problems make it "socially undesirable, then cut your losses and no longer incur the cost … and try to recover the capital that you can and walk away..."

The NM House, in Republican hands for the first time in many decades, voted 31-13 to require a study of the finances:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of transportation be requested to study the costs to the state and to local governments of maintaining and operating the rail runner over the next twenty years; the feasibility of selling the track, rolling stock and other rail runner assets currently owned by the state; and the potential benefits of replacing the rail runner with a reestablished commuter bus service; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of transportation be requested to provide a report on the study results to the appropriate interim legislative committee prior to November 15, 2015; ...

The sponsor, Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, said that the bus service which was discontinued following Rail Runner completion, cost $3 fare for an hour-long, one-way ride from Albuquerque to Santa Fe while a train ride costs $9 and takes about 90 minutes.

For FR posting history on the Rail Runner, click the keyword "Richardson's Railroad" for over a dozen years of articles.

[CedarDave]

A short correction to the first bullet:

• The state is paying about $28 million a year in debt for the train until 2024 (total operating cost plus debt $56.4 million per year).

[john316]

Are the operating under directive 10-289? Or has the rail unification order already been issued?

[fishtank]

Not to mention the other Big Bill transportation project......

http://krqe.com/2015/05/05/spaceport-america-spending-out-of-this-world/

[LegendHasIt]

We pretty much knew that it would be a debacle when he first proposed it.

Between his toy choo-choo train and his toy spaceport, and his drivers licenses for illegals he left not a legacy, but a poison pill for the taxpayers of New Mexico to suffer with long after his more mundane corruptions have faded into nothingness.

We should never allowed that carpetbagger into the state, much less electing him to public office.

[LegendHasIt]

Nah, John... It is more like “The Chick Morrison Special”

[CedarDave]

For FR posting history on the Rail Runner, click the keyword "Richardson's Railroad" for over a dozen years of articles.

It's only a decade of articles. Oh well, it just seems longer.

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[MeshugeMikey]

evidently it just cant draw the ridership ..that .THE BEAST has been in Recent Months???

[OneWingedShark]

Ah, the DollarRunner Express — how I've missed your stories, deeply embroiled in endless corruption!

[rktman]

Hey now. Just a dang minute. Did anybody send these numbers to gov. moonbeam in Cali? Does anyone suppose the HSrail in Cali will “fare” any better? Man, I love the smell of burnt up tax dollars in the morning.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Mass transit in New Mexico...??? For what???...getting to the cattle drive on time?

[LegendHasIt]

Heck, this entire little Richardson Choo-Choo train idiocy wouldn’t even pay for the feasibility study for the California one.

I don’t know what it is with politicians and trains.

Even the the majority of supposed conservatives love playing with their choo-choos.

[hinckley buzzard]

Mass transit in New Mexico...??? For what???...getting to the cattle drive on time?

No. Clearing the roadways for all the illegals who have received their drivers licenses.

[rktman]

“...love playing with their choo-choos......” Kinda left that wide open for an “and”. Just sayin’ :>}

[hoosierham]

Cincinnati is going to be spending millions every years subsidizing the streetcar pushed by the crooked ex-mayor. It is impossible for a non-crook to push for such a huge waste of money and kickbacks.

[LegendHasIt]

Well, sort of a cattle drive.

The people who ride the Richardson Special regularly are mostly government employees who live in the Albuquerque area but work in Santa Fe.

They think they are ‘saving Gaia’ by not driving to and from work.

[CedarDave]

In the "early days" (late 2008-09) cattle were very important to the railroad - they roamed free in the area of the pueblos and collisions occurred until fences were constructed. Colliding at 79 mph with a large cow makes for instant hamburger of the cow and a mess with damage to the train.

Delays, struck cow mark Rail Runner's first day, but riders optimistic (NM-Richardson's railroad)

Cows No Match for Rail Runner (NM-Richardson's Railroad)

Note the plow scrapes in this file photo.

[leapfrog0202]

Very good summation, thanks Dave.

Huge waste of money for our state. Just a shame that Richardson had everyone where he wanted them and they approved this money pit.

I don’t even know if the Rail Runner shut down, would it recoup any money at this point except the money that wouldn’t be spent running the Rail Runner in the red every year. Do you?

[leapfrog0202]

And his plane that he flew all over the state in. That man was horrendous for NM. Thank goodness he didn’t get elected President. Well.....I don’t know...could he be worse than who is there now? Not sure.

[LegendHasIt]

I don’t believe that Richardson hates America as much as 0bama does, and doesn’t particularly want to destroy it, (goose that laid the golden egg and all)... even if he does prefer his homeland of (Old) Mexico in a societal/ cultural sense.

So, while a President Richardson would probably make most of the same mistakes that 0bama makes, he wouldn’t be doing it out of malice