Senators help keep N.M. Amtrak route rolling
Money in transportation bill; House has to OK funds, too
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved $50 million to help keep Amtrak’s Southwest Chief rolling through New Mexico as the railway system’s leadership eyes replacing part of the passenger service with buses in the face of costly maintenance.
The bipartisan amendment, tucked into a sweeping multibillion dollar funding bill for the Department of Transportation and other agencies, would provide money for improvements along the train’s route between Chicago and Los Angeles.
The amendment goes further, seeking to effectively stop for the near future any plans to discontinue the rail service.
“It makes no sense for Amtrak to provide inferior service while cutting out a key part of rural America,” said U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and co-sponsor of the amendment. “We’re going to continue fighting any effort to undermine this important route.”
Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson told members of Congress in June that the railway system was considering replacing train service between Albuquerque and Dodge City, Kan., with buses.
Officials have argued that tracks along the route need maintenance that would cost about $50 million over 10 years.
And that does not include the costs of installing a new safety system known as positive train control along part of the route by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Amtrak cast uncertainty over the future of a grant that Colfax County won to help pay for upgrades.
The amendment approved Wednesday would compel Amtrak to come through with matching funds for that
grant. And it goes further, saying Amtrak cannot alter the route for now.
The service runs daily between Chicago and Los Angeles, cutting through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado before reaching Northern New Mexico stops at Raton, Las Vegas and Lamy before continuing to points west.
The route carried 363,300 passengers in 2017, according to the Rail Passengers Association.
That is down slightly from 2016 but up from years before ridership peaked in 2015.
And the association says it has ranked 19th for passengers among Amtrak’s 48 routes.
Local leaders argue the Southwest Chief is not only for travelers passing through but delivers tourists to New Mexico. Boy Scouts visiting the Philmont Ranch outside Cimarron often take the train, for example. And it serves areas with few options for commercial airline travel.
Replacing part of the route with a bus service “would have discouraged riders from taking the Southwest Chief in the first place, adding to Amtrak’s financial problems,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., a co-sponsor of the amendment.
“The additional funding from our amendment will make sure the Southwest Chief gets back on a sound financial track,” he said.
Unclear is how the funding proposal will be received in the U.S. House of Representatives when its members return from recess next month.
Sponsored by Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and also co-sponsored by Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., the measure passed the Senate 92-6.