The choice of former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg as secretary of the Department of Transportation offers big possibilities for New Mexico. We know President-elect Joe Biden wants a big infrastructure bill — some $1.3 trillion to revamp transportation, rebuild highways, refurbish bridges and otherwise upgrade structures across the country. And that’s not just in high-population areas where train commutes are part of life, but in rural America, where the sound of the train whistle echoes through the town. [A train-loving president is good for New Mexico]
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the Rio Metro Transportation District, which operates the New Mexico Rail Runner, are laying new ties along a 31-mile stretch of track south of Raton Pass, replacing some 12 miles of bolted rail with welded rail between Lamy and Los Cerrillos and completing installation of a Positive Train Control system.
Earlier this year Game of Thrones author George RR Martin and two other New Mexico celebrities purchased the Santa Fe Southern Railroad and the depot in Lamy. The State of New Mexico bought the track bed that Amtrak's Southwest Chief uses from just north of Lamy to Behlen south of Albuquerque from the BNSF Railway when the Rail Runner was built. BNSF owns virtually all the rail rights of way in New Mexico. SFSR was featured in the Breaking Bad episode, Dead Freight.
“Our past and current investments, from Kansas through Colorado and New Mexico, demonstrate our commitment to the Chief route and also preserve this segment for eventual inclusion in a north-south connection along the Front Range between Denver and Albuquerque, via Colorado Springs and Pueblo,” Bill Flynn, Amtrak’s president and CEO, said in a news release. [Albuquerque Journal]
Amtrak has long expressed interest in establishing passenger rail service along the Front Range but that "project is a long way away from reality" and could cost some $2 billion.
As rail coal traffic dies Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and the Big Sky Rail Authority have moved ten counties to restore the North Coast Hiawatha line through southern Montana after Amtrak ended service in 1979.
A Front Range route would connect the Southwest Chief to the Empire Builder at Shelby, Montana through Denver, Cheyenne and Gillette, Wyoming and intersect with the North Coast Hiawatha line at Laurel, Montana.
ip photo is of the Lamy depot.
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"The Authority is not solely looking at reestablishing east-west service, but also the feasibility of north-south service between Denver and Billings and Salt Lake City and Butte, which all saw passenger rail service in the past," he said. Helena Independent Record
Amtrak pledges support for Montana passenger rail: Yellowstone Public Radio.
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