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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...