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Inspection train to run over threatened Southwest Chief route
It would be a shame to let the present routing of the Southwest Chief disappear. Many communities along that route would lose service. Two college towns, Las Vegas, N.M. and Trinidad, CO,and Raton with the famed Philmont Boy Scout Ranch connection. There is room to grow in the State of New Mexico for passenger Rail. That to happen until Governor Susana Martinez (R) put the kibosh to that.
It would be a shame to let the present routing of the Southwest Chief disappear. Many communities along that route would lose service. Two college towns, Las Vegas, N.M. and Trinidad, CO,and Raton with the famed Philmont Boy Scout Ranch connection. There is room to grow in the State of New Mexico for passenger Raqil. That to happen until Governor Susana Martinez (R) put the kibosh to that.
They need to get some folks from Colorado government, like Governor Hickenlooper, on board, too. If the line through KA to LaJunta, CO, loses AMTRAK, then the next closure will be the line over Raton Pass from Trinidad, CO. That would end the prospect of north-south passenger service from Casper and/or Cheyenne, WY through Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad and on to Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM.
Those communities, if they want to keep Amtrak, should be required to pay for all the track maintenance. It is obvious BNSF doesn’t use this route very much, so why should the railroad be forced to pay for what it doesn’t use?
A better alternative is motor coach service. Looking at the map, the US highway routes are already in place. All of those roads are designated to handle interstate commerce. Those roads are of good quality, having been on them first hand. A motor coach company can easily do what Amtrak is doing without the taxpayer subsidy. As for paying for the roads, the trucking companies have already paid for them via the fuel taxes which go into the Highway Trust (slush) Fund. These communities are small. They would be lucky to fill one bus per day. Last time I checked, motor coaches are elderly and handicapped accessible. So much for that excuse.
So let Amtrak buy the track from BNSF. The other option is to re-route the train.
Hopefully our Kansas politicians will agree to spend money on this track project and keep Amtrak going thru western Kansas towns and preserve our state transportation!
@JEFFERY GUSE - Good point about motorcoaches. Like you I’m concerned about federal spending on transportation, so perhaps we should also agree that it’s time we ended subsidies for public highways and required anyone that wants to travel on an individual basis to ride a bicycle? Bicycles barely affect the tarmac they travel over at all. Providing public roads for car drivers is just a waste of tax payers money, and I’m sure that private companies would, after seeing the end of car transportation in the US, be all over themselves to provide cheaply made long distance bicycle paths for riders to travel on instead.
You don’t want to ride a bicycle you say? It’s uncomfortable and given the choice between riding a bicycle for 1,000 miles or nothing, you wouldn’t travel at all? Well, I guess you’re not going to travel at all. Meanwhile, perhaps you can put your empty bus back in your tunnel, while we ride our trains?
hey folks . the country is broke . the states are broke . have you ever heard of megabus?? bolt bus?? trailways?? greyhound?? bnsf wants to abandon that line and has wanted to for years you idiots!! why for Gods sake pay 100 m for a train that uses it once a day in each direction ?? are you people crazy?? hold it!! I have my anwer. sebulis is from kansas and shes a liberal so yes your all brain damage . bustitute it!!
The states of Colorado and New Mexico cooperated to save the CATS line Antonito and Chama. Here’s hoping they can save a standard guage line in their states that is at least as scenic as the old D&RGW to the west.
At the very least they should prevent BNSF from tearing up the track, should the Amtrak train be removed. It would be nice to have should there be some kind of a disaster on the transcontinental. And some freight business could return.
Oklahoma is going to help rebuild an old CRI&P line between Shawnee and McAlester. Looks like traffic will return that UP gave up on after the KATY merger.
Truckers fuel and road tax don’t begin to pay for the damage they cause. Truckers have gotten incredible subsidies. Who pays air traffic controllers? Not Delta or Southwest. Airlines get incredible subsidies. But Amtrak is supposed to make a “profit”.
It would be an disappointment to let the present routing of the Southwest chief disappear.
The officials didn’t ride just to take some time away from the office! Obviously, if they feel it’s not in Amtrak’s best interests to run the “Southwest Chief” anymore, going over Raton is doomed as well. The train will be rerouted via Texas, eliminating the scenic ride over the pass and beyond. This isn’t new information, the storm cloud has been hanging over this track for some time now. Inasmuch as the line affords fine desert scenes, Amtrak is looking to be economic and spend their money elsewhere, as BNSF doesn’t use this line anymore, especially over Raton. Unfortunately scenery lovers, Amtrak during these economic times has to show they’re willing to run a faster train and the scenery will have to take a back seat.
From a BNSF point of view, I think it makes economic sense to reroute the SW Chief though Abo Canyon and Belen. New Mexico already has a fine N-S service from Belen to Santa-Fe. It probably could be extended to Raton and beyond, but the right of way is not up to the same standards as NMRX and BNSF main line. I personally spent some days photographing this section over the holidays and I can tell you the ROW is less than BNSF quality. I don’t know anything about the tracks north of Raton, but knowing how little traffic they see suggests they do not get high priority attention. In my opinion, it makes better business sense to move the Chief to the Belen route and find a way to serve the rest with state sponsored transportation.
Governor Susana Martinez (R) can to clean up the mess the Governor Bill Richardson (D) put the State in .
As Mr. Garrison mentioned, if something happened to BNSF’s transcon, such as a major hasmat episode or some deliberate action, with no alternate route, other than Raton Pass, how is BNSF planning on moving traffic? How can they not keep the track the Chief is using maintained?
One other thing, if this was a highway the Fed would come up with 90% of the cost of building and maintaining the right of way.
The Interstate Highway System is NOT in as good a shape as jeffrey Guse FALSELY claims it is. Slush fund, yes, for people like Guse that sing Hagar’s hit “I can’t drive 55”, so the answer is to SPEND more money on new roads that will NEVER be maintained because no sooner the new road is built, another new road will have to be built because of another good ol’ boy needs a road to play with the gas pedal everywhere he drives.
Listen Mr. Guse, I have a CDL and I’ll bet you have never travelled as many miles as I have on our Interstate Highway system, and overall, the biggest drain on the transportation budget is buliding more new roads-social welfare for the automobile at the expense of the trucking industry! Some of these Interstae routes have very little traffic on them and were built because some egomanica Congressman wanted to have his name branded on the highway with large gold-plated cost signs bearing his name on it! Whatt a grat way to remind every taxpayer on the highway who siphoned our tax money for their own selish interests.