I saw this in railfan and railroad,From where to Where will it run and how often?
A-L-B-U-Q-U-E-R-Q-U-E
They’ve been talking light rail for decades Uptown to Downtown to Knob Hill (it has serious ridership troubles. Also out there is Commuter rail from Santa Fe to Lamy to Bernalillo to Albuquerque to Belen on under utilized BNSF & Santa Fe Southern Trackage (Lamy to Santa Fe is in poor shape and not built for speed - ridership is a serious issue, but NM seems to live and die from a disproprtionate amount of Federal $$$$, so anything is possible)
Albert’sturkey?
Wait till he gets his hands on that large burg in SW Ohio we both know a little about![:D][:D][:D]
Wasn’t Bugs Bunny the one who always “should’ve made that turn at Albakoykee?” They must be related somehow…
MC–
I have it on extremely good account (>99% reliability) that one of the major players in pushing for the commuter service between Belen and Bernalillo was none other than your employer.
Hasn’t been my employer since that ugly cascade green boat anchor got tethered to it. Is a client on occasion though. If somebody pays them enough, they’ll run passengers anywhere. The problem is that politcal egoes, not common sense, run the show down there. New Mexico (anywhere) has not the population density or tax base to run the thing unless it’s funded by Uncle Sugar.[:-^][:-^][:-^]
I wondered about that. Have traveled to Albuquerque now and then to visit family in Santa Fe. Never ran into that much traffic congestion between Albuquerque and Santa Fe but what do I know.
Rode the SFS one evening…a fun ride; lightning in the distance…the ‘Legal Tender’ was still open in Lamy at the time. Agree, cannot see that line being anything close to ‘high speed’.
Could it be that the SFS is looking for a rail rebuild grant - something that they wouldn’t have to repay???
Now, how could that be.
Eric: Even with the rebuild grant (which is already there for portions), the curvature and grade of that 18 miles of railroad is horrendous (and why ATSF left Santa Fe off the Transcon mainline in the first place,; I still remember hi-rails derailing on the west leg of the wye at Lamy!.) The 90# rail on the line and open deck bridges were shot when ATSF sold the line in 1989. People talk about putting the New Mexico Central back from Kennedy to Santa Fe, behind the Indian Boys School for the Deaf at St. Francis/Cerrillos Rd), but that lines grade and curves was every bit as bad.[;)][;)][;)]
****and then there were the local political hacks that called the station grounds in Santa Fe “blighted” in the name of urban redevelopment, took money under the table from developers (NM std. business practice) and fled.[}:)][}:)][}:)]
When NM commuter operations fail, our transit authority here in Phoenix AZ will be able to buy the used equipment and start operations here. Local governments have already approached BNSF, which has responded favorably, despite 10 freight trains a day. BNSF probably likes the idea of a second or even third track at no expense on their part. At any rate, we sure need the relief given our congested roads!
i don’t see any comment on commuter potential on the southern side of ABQ, the
line to Belen. i thought belen was to be the southern terminal for commuter rail.
is this not so? if so, then why is all the discussion concerned with the bernalillo and
lamy end. and i haven’t been out there in ages, but i am glad to hear the legal tender
is/was still putting out those great steaks near the depot in lamy.
theo sommerkamp crosstie@wowway.com personal messages welcomed
The Legal Tender has been closed for several years.
A few days ago, I gave the tourists on the Santa Fe Southern a free extra for their train trip: I was out for an afternoon run, and happened to be near the tracks when the south-bound train came by…
Uh oh. This wasn’t Moonrise over Sante Fe, New Mexico, was it?
Larry
[:I] Oh My!
Nope, it was a nice sunny afternoon.
Besides which, as far as my wife and I can figure out, “Sante Fe” means `Healthy Iron’ in French… But not to worry about the missing accent on 'Santé", our brilliant legislative drafting office insists on leaving off the tilde in the name of one of our counties, so that, according to state statute, we have a Dona Anna County, rather than a Doña Anna County, and “Sante Fe” is a very common error.
Perhaps…Vermont Railway got the same deal with VDOT on there Burlington to Nowere(charlotte) Commutter Train