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It's birthday time for the Rail Runner Express commuter rail service — today marks the first anniversary of the train's service between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Officials say that since the Santa Fe service started, the train has carried 1,372,000 passengers, a daily average of about 4,400. But fares still don't account for much of the Rail Runner's operating budget. Rail Runner spokeswoman Augusta Meyers said out of last fiscal year's $21 million operating budget for the train, about $1.9 million came from ticket sales. Most of the money, about $17 million, was from the federal government's Congestion Mitigation and...

The New Mexico Rail Runner is about to celebrate another milestone — 2 million riders in less than three years of service. ~~snip~~ Officials say the Rail Runner ... currently carries an average of about 4,500 commuters a day between Belen and Santa Fe.

The Rail Runner Express commuter train service would get a police force of its own under a bill approved Saturday by the state Senate. The measure from Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, would authorize the Rail Runner transit districts to hire law officers who would patrol rail-line stations, parking areas and at least some of the commuter trains that roll six days a week between Belen and Santa Fe. The certified, armed train officers would wear distinctive badges and uniforms and "have the powers of peace officers on all property, tracks, rights of way, easements, vehicles, buses, vans, railcars, locomotives and...

ABQ Journal video: Ride the Rail Runner with Dan Mayfield(Works only in my IE Browser, not Firefox version 2)

The House approved non-binding measures Thursday requesting the Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of extending commuter rail from Santa Fe to Taos and from Santa Fe to Las Vegas and Raton. Also endorsed was a non-binding measure for a feasibility study of establishing commuter rail service between El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, the second largest city in the state.

Three-thousand-six-hundred horse power beats one cow power any day, to which Rail Runner Express locomotive engineers can attest. Because since the state's commuter train started running to Santa Fe in mid-December, at least five track-crossing cows have been bumped off by the rail carrier in that corridor. And, while train overseers and interested landowners like Santo Domingo Pueblo have forged an agreement to buffer the beef, the issue probably won't meander away. "It's likely not ever going to stop completely because — I don't know if you've ever dealt with cows. When they have a desire to do something, a...

The Rail Runner route to Santa Fe has been convenient for commuters, but it has also been convenient for thieves. Crooks have been targeting cars parked at the Rail Runner's Los Ranchos Station ever since the train began commuting to Santa Fe last month. "Since the Rail Runner started continuing service to Santa Fe, we've had four or five break-ins in this particular station and one vehicle theft," said Detective Bill Webb.

Weekday Rail Runner ridership has dipped by about 1,000 a day since Jan. 5 — the post-holiday season — but operators say a true gauge of daily use probably won't emerge for some time. Daily passenger boarding numbers provided by the Mid-Region Council of Governments also show, as might be expected, that the stations at Downtown Albuquerque, Los Ranchos/Journal Center, Sandoval County/U.S. 550 and the two in Santa Fe are the most used. The numbers also show that on weekdays this month, there are close to 90 bicycle boardings a day. With the Santa Fe leg of service opening Dec....

Taking pictures on most pueblos has been prohibited for decades. And that has prompted Rail Runner officials to ask its riders turn off their cameras on pueblo land. The train conductor lets riders know to put their cameras away on Santo Domingo and San Felipe land. Rail Runner officials say the pueblos made that request. The Isleta and Sandia pueblos have not asked the conductor to have riders put away their cameras. "I think it goes back years and years ago when a lot of folks from other parts of the country would come in and take photos of the...

The state's commuter train will run between Rio Grande Valley communities around Albuquerque to Santa Fe on Saturdays. The Rail Runner operated — with free fares — for three Saturdays and Sundays over the holiday period after service to Santa Fe was inaugurated Dec. 17. More than 60,000 people have boarded the train between Belen and Santa Fe since service to the capital city began, Rail Runner officials said. Voters in parts of New Mexico approved a tax in November to help fund Rail Runner operations. But that tax doesn't go into effect until July 1.

A Massachusetts-based company has sued to stop the state Department of Transportation and the Mid-Region Council of Governments from using the “Rail Runner” name, which it uses for the state-owned commuter train, and for damages related to "trademark infringement."

Moving away from New Mexico in early 2007 was neither easy nor fun. The state calls itself “Land of Enchantment,” an apt description in many ways. The lovely city of Santa Fe had been my family’s home for about 130 years. I am among the third of four Dendahl generations born in Santa Fe and had spent most of my 68 years there. However, perhaps hearkening to the echo of Ayn Rand’s fictional hero John Galt in Atlas Shrugged, my wife and I decided to leave. New Mexico has long carried a rap for political malodor on account of corruption...

Another week, another record broken. The Rail Runner gave more than 12,000 people a lift Saturday, breaking the single day ridership records for the second time in two weeks, Mid-Region Council of Governments spokeswoman Augusta Meyers said Sunday. MRCOG operates the Rail Runner. But the record-setting days ought to be over by today, Rail Runner officials have said, now that trains won't offer any more free rides.

It was standing room only on the Rail Runner to Santa Fe on Sunday — and that was for those lucky enough to get on the train. Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments Executive Director Lawrence Rael said a crowd of "well over" 5,000 people riding the new train service caused delays of 30-45 minutes. Some people had to wait for later trains as the Rail Runner filled up before all the waiting passengers could board at some stations, he said. "It's a good problem to have, to have so many people riding the train," Rael said. But "we're concerned...

Delayed trains and other issues discouraged passengers, and traffic signals continued to puzzle drivers in Santa Fe on the second day of New Mexico Rail Runner Express service to the city. Malfunctioning track-side signals slowed down trains Thursday morning, and that — coupled with delays they experienced the day before — caused some commuters to leave train stations in their cars and use the interstate instead. Among them was Gary Smith, who took a car full of would-be train riders with him. "I was an hour late for work yesterday, ... and I was on the train that hit the...

A southbound Rail Runner commuter train was halted for about 20 minutes Wednesday night after striking a cow near San Felipe Pueblo , and morning delays from track-signal problems and missed bus connections plagued the commuter train on its first day of service between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Passengers onboard a train that left a station near the state Department of Transportation headquarters about 5:22 p.m. reported the train screeched to a sudden halt at about 6:10 p.m., and emergency lighting came on in passenger cars. The conductor informed passengers over an intercom that the crew was investigating what the...

Delays from track-signal problems and missed bus connections plagued the first day of commuter train service between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Many passengers, however, remained optimistic that the New Mexico Rail Runner Express would turn into a reliable transportation option. "You know, they are going to have kinks, so hopefully they will get them worked out, " said Marlene Benavidez, a Santa Fean who was late to her job with the Postal Service in Albuquerque on Wednesday morning as a result of the problems. Benavidez boarded the first south-bound train of the day just after 6 a.m., but that train...

"All aboard!" came a jovial voice on the train's loudspeaker "This is Governor Bill Richardson. Are you happy to be on the Rail Runner?" About 800 elected officials, government workers and others joined the governor in a cheer as they rode the inaugural New Mexico Rail Runner Express train between Santa Fe and Albuquerque on Monday morning. Several people brought their children along for the ride, including Santa Fe City Councilor Ronald Trujillo and his wife, Amber. Their kids, Hunter, 10, and Krystianna, 6, looked out the window as the train sliced through the snowy landscape. "I figured this is...

SANTA FE — Gov. Bill Richardson will be one of the first riders on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express' inaugural run to Santa Fe today.

Whether they want to commute, shop or drink, Santa Feans are studying train timetables in anticipation of the Rail Runner coming to town. The commuter train is set to begin running between Santa Fe and Albuquerque this month. The train's backers say it offers a rapid and reliable alternative to navigating around the turistas trying to find their way down St. Francis Drive or the smash-ups clogging Interstate 25 But before they climb aboard, many are wondering just how much time and money could really be saved by traveling by rail. For now, driving is still faster — just how...

And so it begins. The end of next week, the Rail Runner Express commuter rail to Santa Fe pulls out of the station for its inaugural run. Quite properly, it'll be a celebration loaded with meaning. By the time the one hour and 30 minute ride chugs into Santa Fe, we'll not only have taken a giant leap to the future, we'll honor the past as well. For the moment, let's take that leap forward. Say two decades. Is there anyone left who opposed this project who cannot acknowledge that, in one fell swoop, we have looked the future in...

The beginning of commuter train service between Santa Fe and metropolitan Albuquerque is promised for this month. Just exactly which day, however, is a question that officials are slow to answer. "We'd like to put a date out there, but we've got to get all our ducks in a row first," Augusta Meyers, communications manger for the Mid-Region Council of Governments, said Monday. "There is no official start date at this point, just a tentative, 'We're shooting for mid-December.' " The council of governments is on contract to plan the Rail Runner Express train for the state Department of Transportation....

Other than that Christmas Eve flight hauling gifts around the globe, perhaps there's no run more anticipated these days than the one set to start about two weeks from today. "This is the hottest ticket in town for the holidays, buddy," Lawrence Rael of the Mid-Region Council of Governments said. "Even Santa wants a ride." Mark your calendars: The Rail Runner Express commuter train's inaugural public run into Santa Fe is tentatively set to take place Friday, Dec. 12, with Wednesday, Dec. 17, expected to be the actual start of scheduled commuter service to and from the capital city. Thus...

A New Mexico legislator came to me with this problem. Often, he said, constituents would seek his support for some ill-advised expenditure of state funds for “programs” that would supposedly “'create jobs.” The legislator knew instinctively that most of these programs were worthless, but how to argue that point was his problem There's a parable in economics called the “broken window fallacy.” Suppose that you break your window, and it costs you $30 to have it repaired. The $30 creates a small job for the person who repairs it and a few dollars for the glassmaker. So would a program...

Obstructed mountain views, increased traffic and parking headaches are just a few of the issues neighbors have with a proposed transit-oriented development near Zia Road and St. Francis Drive. Developer SF Brown faced a somewhat hostile crowd at the library of Capshaw Middle School during an early neighborhood-notification meeting Wednesday night. The local firm wants to spend the next 10-plus years building offices, retail space and rental condominiums on the 20 acres it owns on all sides of the intersection of Zia Road with Galisteo Road — where the state has promised to stop commuter trains. But for a number...

A ride between Downtown Albuquerque and the heart of Santa Fe would cost Rail Runner Express riders $6 one way or $8 round trip and would take about an hour and 20 minutes each way, under draft fare and schedule information released by the Mid-Region Council of Governments. The Santa Fe to Bernalillo leg of the commuter train service is expected to be in place by year's end. It will tie into the leg that now operates from Bernalillo to Belen with stops in Albuquerque. Under the proposed service schedule, eight northbound trains would pull into the capital city each...

Two Rail Runner Express tunnels completed under Interstate 25 and an overpass under way in La Cienega are not as tall as state rules require. But state officials say there will be no need to rebuild the tunnels — technically called box culverts — or the overpass because they are within the federal standards for passenger trains. The state standards were written in the 1950s for freight trains that use double-decked cars — and shouldn't apply to the Rail Runner track, which will carry only passenger trains, the officials say. The state Public Regulation Commission on Tuesday tabled a state...

A company in Massachusetts says it trademarked the name “Rail Runner” in the nineties. And now they want New Mexico to stop using it. "Rail Runner Incorporated filed what's called an opposition to the use of New Mexico Rail Runner on September 2, 2006 with the trademark trial and appeal board of the U.S Patent and Trade Mark Office," said a spokesman for the East Coast company. The company makes a machine that they say makes it easier to move containers from trains to semis. The East Coast company is now waiting for a decision from the patent and trademark...

The Santa Fe Southern Railway says state government's Rail Runner commuter train route is being built across a piece of land the state doesn't own. Santa Fe Southern, which operates a tourist train along the rail route through Santa Fe that is being converted for use by the Rail Runner, has filed suit against the state Department of Transportation saying the department intends to put Rail Runner tracks across a tract still owned by Santa Fe Southern. Santa Fe Southern sold its 18 miles of tracks and railroad right of way between downtown Santa Fe and Lamy to the state...

Plans for a sales tax to support the Rail Runner commuter train and a regional bus system are gaining steam. Bernalillo and Sandoval counties are to consider this week publishing a legal notice needed to put the one-eighth-cent tax on the Nov. 4 ballot. Valencia County might do the same, though perhaps not until next month. "I think the Rail Runner's time has come," said Alan Armijo, chairman of the Bernalillo County Commission. Voters "at least need the opportunity to decide that." The tax proposal must clear one more step before going to the counties — passage by the regional...

The Santa Fe City Council's decision to withhold approval of proposed traffic control measures for construction of the Rail Runner Express commuter train could have serious financial implications to the state, a project official said Wednesday. Councilors voted 6-2 Wednesday evening to postpone taking action on three measures dealing with infrastructure improvements needed to bring the Rail Runner to Santa Fe. Citing concerns over the scope of the state's responsibility for existing infrastructure deficiencies, several councilors said they want more information before taking up the issue again May 14. But state officials expressed frustration, pointing out after Wednesday's vote that...

Gov. Bill Richardson sat next to an emergency exit Wednesday as the Rail Runner Express train he was riding rolled past one of Santa Fe's busiest intersections and into the city's Railyard district. But five years after launching the plan to connect Santa Fe and Albuquerque by commuter train, Richardson wasn't about to abandon the train. "It's a reality," Richardson said of the project that's been both praised as a much-needed service and blasted as a costly pet project since being officially unveiled in 2003. Though state officials predict daily service in and out of Santa Fe won't begin for...

Mark Holmes has been riding the New Mexico Rail Runner Express since the initial service started in July 2006. After realizing how easy and convenient it was to use the train and bus, Holmes convinced his family to get rid of two of their three vehicles and rely on public transportation to get to appointments, school and work. During that time, he has saved enough money to take his entire family of six on two vacations. This year he told his family the cost savings would be enough to fly everyone to Puerto Rico. “I'm flying my whole family to...

The state is paying $2.8 million to private landowners to route the Rail Runner commuter train across their property near Santa Fe. About seven miles of track will be built on the undeveloped land on La Bajada Mesa south of Santa Fe. The train cuts across the private land before entering the median of Interstate 25 near a rest stop. The Department of Transportation is acquiring 179 acres of land from eight landowners for right of way for the commuter rail service, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Most of the owners are partnerships. ~~snip~~ The right of...

SANTA FE — To some lawmakers, the Rail Runner Express is the little engine that shouldn't — and they gave the Richardson administration an earful about it. Members of the Senate Rules Committee on Friday vented at a confirmation hearing for John Hummer of Las Cruces, Gov. Bill Richardson's appointee to the state Transportation Commission. The administration-created commuter rail system is running between Belen and Bernalillo — through Albuquerque — and is under construction to Santa Fe. The $400 million project has become a focal point for bipartisan criticism of the administration, with complaints that it won't reduce highway congestion...

SANTA FE— A $6 billion budget is heading to the Senate with a provision intended to force state employees to use the state's commuter rail system for government travel. The budget (HB 2) by the Senate Finance Committee also would cut money and legal staff for two state agencies that have drawn criticism from some legislators for proposed tougher regulations on the oil and gas industry and vehicle emission standards. The committee approved the budget Monday and sent it to the Senate for consideration. ~~snip~~The commuter rail provision was sponsored by Senate Republican Whip Leonard Lee Rawson of Las Cruces....

Santa Fe County commissioners sent a message to state lawmakers Tuesday, passing a resolution that opposes a regional tax increase to pay for operation of a high-profile commuter train. Less than two weeks after state officials changed their position to support creating a regional tax district to pay for operation costs of the Rail Runner, the commission voted 2-1— with two members absent— in favor of a resolution that clearly expresses their displeasure. "I think it's important at this point in the legislative process for us to send a strong message," said Commissioner Jack Sullivan, the resolution's sponsor. "I think...

Gov. Bill Richardson has taken a new position on the Rail Runner commuter train: He has moved from brakeman to switchman. In September, when he was out of state campaigning as a tax-cutting Democratic candidate for president, he slammed the brakes on a proposed four-county transportation district to raise taxes to operate the train. It was "off the table," his spokesman said. "Off the table forever." This week, back in New Mexico where money is short for many big-ticket items on Richardson’s agenda, the governor pulled a switch and the proposal is back on track. ~~snip~~ Now that the political...

Gov. Bill Richardson has changed his mind and now supports consideration of a regional transportation district to raise taxes to finance the Rail Runner commuter train— an idea Richardson firmly rejected in September. Richardson's office issued a statement Thursday night saying the state Transportation Commission has "made a compelling argument that there is strong support for these districts to help pay for operations and maintenance" of the Rail Runner. In September, Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught proposed a regional transit district under which voters in Santa Fe, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Valencia counties would be asked to approve a $25 million gross...

DES MOINES, Iowa— After a long list of phone calls to potential Iowa presidential voters, New Mexico Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught can recite her political sales pitch by heart. "Hi. I'm Rhonda Faught," she says in her best phone voice when asked for an example. "I'm calling on behalf of Governor Bill Richardson ... and I would love to talk to you about some of the great things the governor is doing in New Mexico. Do you have a minute?" Faught is among the scores of New Mexicans— many of them high-level Richardson state appointees volunteering on their own time—...

SANTA FE— With no money to pay for them, New Mexico has indefinitely postponed $500 million worth of high-priority road projects. The biggest losers dollar-wise? The Navajo Nation, drivers on U.S. 54 in the central part of the state and users of U.S. 64 in northern New Mexico. Other losers include drivers jockeying for position on the crowded stretch of I-25 between Bernalillo and the Tramway exit at the north end of Albuquerque. All told, the state Transportation Commission has postponed 29 improvement projects involving 300 miles of roadway. "I'm sure we'll have everyone upset because these projects are not...

The Rail Runner commuter train was designed to be the fastest, straightest line from Belen to Santa Fe, with stops at Los Lunas, Albuquerque and Bernalillo. Since it left the Roundhouse as a $90.2 million proposal in 2003, however, the Rail Runner has followed an erratic path. It has made unscheduled stops to load up additional money, dashed past lawmakers trying to flag it down for legislative oversight, and detoured around a $75 million federal grant. It is now struggling uphill, financially, to reach Santa Fe. When the Legislature got on board in the hectic final hours of the 2003...

Four years ago this month, in ... a special legislative session called by Gov. Bill Richardson, lawmakers passed a mega-bill to improve 37 roads at a cost of nearly $1.6 billion. Tucked into the legislation was a phrase that authorized one of New Mexico's most expensive and controversial transportation projects— not a road but a commuter rail system from Belen to Santa Fe. Back in 2003, documents show, the cost for the rail project was listed at $90.2 million. Now the projected tab for the RailRunner Express has ballooned to as much as $425 million— and that doesn't include another...

The largest Gunnison's prairie dogs measure little more than 14 inches long and weigh about as much as a pineapple. Despite their lack of stature, the diminutive critters are posing an obstacle to the $400 million Rail Runner commuter train project as it moves toward Santa Fe. Representatives of several conservation groups testified at a Tuesday public meeting on the Rail Runner that prairie dog colonies along the Interstate 25 median have already been obliterated by state contractors working on the train route. "I'm very concerned about the impact prairie dogs have already suffered," said Nicole Rosemarino, conservation director for...

After rejecting the idea last month of a tax to pay millions of dollars needed to operate the Rail Runner, Gov. Bill Richardson was vague Monday about where the money would come from. But increasing state funding— on top of the millions of dollars already budgeted— is likely part of the picture. "It's the most popular program in New Mexico," Richardson said during an event in Santa Fe that was part of his presidential campaign schedule. "We'll figure it out some way." By the time the Rail Runner is scheduled to start running between Belen and Santa Fe in late...

Faced with rising costs, lawmakers questioned whether brakes should be applied to the Rail Runner project from Bernalillo to Santa Fe. "It seems heavy-handed to ram this through when we have these open-ended funding issues," Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, said Wednesday during a Legislative Finance Committee hearing on transportation costs. Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught had just told the group that an additional $6 million to $7 million is needed for the Rail Runner to install flashing lights and guard arms at 20 unprotected public and private crossings.~~snip~~ "Is there any consideration of putting a moratorium on the Rail...

Gov. Bill Richardson's trouncing of a tax-increase plan for his Rail Runner Express commuter train puzzled some lawmakers, who saw him put his name to that very idea less than four years ago. The governor's 2004 news release announcing his signing of the tax legislation specified it would allow for a tax boost "to fund commuter rail operation." So, when the governor panned the idea last week, it surprised Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell. "Maybe the governor's just distracted," Jennings said, referring to his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. "I think he wants to be known as the tax-cutting governor,...

Gov. Bill Richardson said Thursday he would not support a tax increase to pay for the Rail Runner commuter train. The governor, who has been out of state campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, overruled one of his Cabinet secretaries in Santa Fe in the process. "Governor Richardson is not interested in a tax increase," spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a written statement released Thursday evening. "The Railrunner expansion will move forward as planned, and the governor expects to consider different options, other than a tax increase, for its operations in the future." Under a proposal revealed one day before...

Voters in Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Sandoval and Valencia counties could be asked to approve a $25 million gross receipts tax increase next year to pay for operating the Rail Runner commuter train. Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught said Wednesday that each county would have to first agree to join a regional transit district, then voters would be asked to approve an additional eighth-of-a-cent tax on gross receipts. The increase would amount to 12.5 cents on every $100 of purchases. Faught stressed that the plan was in early stages; her department hasn't even approached the counties yet. But it's clear the state...

The state faces "a perfect storm" as far as paying for transportation infrastructure is concerned... With that in mind, it only makes sense for the state to divert scarce transportation dollars from the proposed Rail Runner extension to Santa Fe and plow those dollars into road construction and maintenance. [While] Rail Runner's projected total cost is $400 million, those costs are not evenly-distributed. Phase I of the project from Belen to Bernalillo, which is now in service, cost $135 million. The Bernalillo-Belen segment of the proposed RailRunner route is approximately 51 miles long— more than half of the system's proposed...