Rail Runner Adds Kewa Pueblo Stop
Stop should only increase trip by 3 minutes, expert says
While ridership on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express has taken a dip compared with last year, officials are responding to passenger concerns by adding a new stop to the system’s morning express run.
Beginning Monday, the weekday, northbound express train will stop at the Kewa Pueblo Station, said Augusta Meyers, spokeswoman for the commuter train system.
“It’s 25 miles in either direction for another express stop,” Meyers said, explaining the decision to add the stop.
In addition to local commuters going to Santa Fe, students from the pueblo who attend Santa Fe Indian School use the train, she said.
The additional stop should add no more than three minutes to commuters’ travel time, Meyers said.
The express run begins in Belen at 5:39 a.m. — it includes
stops in Downtown Albuquerque at 6:22 a.m., Los Ranchos/ Journal Center at 6:34 a.m. and Sandoval County/U.S. 550 at 6:46 a.m. — and will stop at the Kewa Station at 7:05 a.m. before reaching the Santa Fe Depot at 7:45 a.m.
Also beginning Monday, drop-off times for the afternoon runs will be about five minutes later “to address timing issues and improve ontime performance,” she said.
The Rail Runner, which begins its regular service weekday mornings with a 3:55 a.m. pick up in Belen and 4 a.m. in Downtown Albuquerque, is having a down year thus far in its ridership.
This July, there were 104,534 ticketed riders, down 10.8 percent from July 2011’s total of 117,143. Year to date, through the end of July, ridership has dropped 8.6 percent from 736,285 to 673,156, Meyers said.
Although the exact cause is not known, it’s likely tied to gas prices, she said.
“When gas prices go down, ridership goes down,” Meyers said. “Gas prices are starting to go up so we may see the numbers start to go up.”