Rail Runner gets $29M for track upgrades
The federal government has awarded the New Mexico Rail Runner about $29 million to pay for a new safety system known as positive train control.
The money goes a long ways toward paying for upgrades expected to total between $55 million and $60 million that threatened to hobble passenger train service between Santa Fe, Albuquerque and points south.
Rio Metro Regional Transit District, which operates the Rail Runner, had been facing a deadline at the end of the year to implement positive train control.
Amtrak has argued installing the new system also will be important for continuing operations of the Southwest Chief from Albuquerque to Dodge City, Kan., which operates part of the way along the Rail Runner’s tracks.
Rio Metro officials have raised concerns that the steep bill and looming deadline for adding the safety equipment could disrupt service along the rail line.
But the district expects it will get an extension from the federal government and be able to install the system by the end of 2020.
Under that plan, federal funding will cover about 80 percent of the project’s cost.
While the Rail Runner has proven controversial, in part because of ridership declining in recent years, the latest funding seemed to be something every member of New Mexico’s congressional delegation could celebrate — Republican and Democrat alike.
“The Rail Runner connects rural, Native, and urban communities in Central New Mexico, offering thousands of New Mexicans access to employment, education, health care and service opportunities,” U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat, said in a statement. “While Positive Train Control represents a critical safety upgrade, it also carries with it a high price tag that threatened to limit the essential service the Rail Runner provides to Central New Mexico.”