RAIL RUNNER BACK ON TRACK
Commuter train returns with limited service after nearly a year
The New Mexico Rail Runner commuter train lurched slowly back into passenger service Monday after a year away because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Business was modest, to say the least, on a midmorning roundtrip between from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, but riders seemed grateful to be back on the train, which ceased carrying passengers March 15.
“It’s a blessing,” said Lorieann Garcia, 50, who returned to Santa Fe after checking on her mother in Albuquerque.
The Rail Runner, with its yellow and red colors swishing, offered limited stops Monday, limited seating capacity and fewer trains than would typically be running.
But the message was that the train was rolling again.
“Like I said, I think we’re going to have to do a little bit of campaigning, promotion, to let people know we’re up and running,” spokeswoman Augusta
Meyers said.
Meyers said the two early morning trains from the south to Santa Fe brought in about 17 riders each. She said there had been technical problems with ticket purchases online and by app, so tickets could be acquired only onboard. That hurt ridership, she said, and should the problem be fixed by Tuesday.
In normal times, the Rail Runner can hold about 600 passengers, but for social distancing, that was trimmed to about 160 Monday. At least on train Nos. 509 and 510 Monday morning, ridership was sparse.
Four passengers rode the 8:50 a.m. train from the Santa Fe Depot to downtown Albuquerque (two of the four were journalists) and about 15 made the 10:35 a.m. trip from downtown Albuquerque to the Santa Fe Depot.
Kerry Clavio of Santa Fe read The Gifts of Near-Death Experiences as the train rumbled past mesas dotted by junipers and finally headed toward mountains in the distance.
Clavio, 64, said it was exciting to be back on the Rail Runner.
“I’m a native New Mexican and my grandfather worked on the Santa Fe Railroad when I grew up,” she said. She traveled Monday to see her sister, Carolyn Baca, in Belen, though the train would stop its southernmost run in Albuquerque.
The sisters haven’t been together in a year because of the virus, Clavio said, and they couldn’t wait to quilt, read, play canasta and walk together.
Train buff Howard Rice of Wisconsin also rode the No. 509 and expressed giddiness. Rice works as a traveling physical therapist at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque and took Monday off just so he could ride back and forth on the Rail Runner.
“I’ve been a train collector since I was a lad, and this is one of the most awesome days in my life,” Rice, 60, said. “I’ve been interested in trains since I was 5 years old.”
Outside, the sun broke through an opening in the gray sky. The Rail Runner hummed and squeaked as it swayed.
“I just enjoy the entire atmosphere of being on the train,” Rice said. “It fills all of your senses.”
Plus, you don’t have to worry about driving, he said.
The train service between Santa Fe and Belen is owned by the state and overseen by the Rio Metro Regional Transit District. The Rail Runner, which started rolling in 2006, has an annual operating budget of about $28 million, with the bulk of that coming from the federal government and taxes from the counties served by the train. Only about $2 million a year is generated by fares.
In July 2017, 71,221 people rode the train. In the same month of 2019, that dropped 7.5 percent to 66,252. Meyers said ridership is affected by gas prices and the economy. The Rail Runner received $47.6 million in CARES Act federal coronavirus relief and may get a smaller amount in the latest relief bill. The system has high capital costs, including implementing new safety technology.
The train continued to run over the past year to test and monitor that technology. The transit district also hopes to build a new maintenance facility in Albuquerque that could cost $40 million.
The train finished its 86-minute run from Santa Fe to Albuquerque. The sisters, Clavio and Baca, embraced outside and walked south. Rice declared it an awesome day, got off the train and walked with purpose to the north.
The Rail Runner had delivered them on time.