With respect to the Rail Runner … The feds posted the contract for BNSF and the State YEARS AGO – why can’t the State post it? The deal was ‘sold’ to the legislature as eliminating the need for highway construction, principally between ABQ and Santa Flush, removing up to 4000 cars a day and the operational costs would be paid for by a combination of rider fees and a new gross receipts tax within the yet to be created transportation district. Wishful thinking …. most of 2009 was spent adding a 3rd lane to I 25 north of ABQ, up toward Bernalillo (so we’re adding additional road capacity) to handle the ~25K cars per day (and growing) that make that trek (the train is a pimple on that wart) and the gross receipts tax is meeting about 40% of its anticipated funding level … so … it was a pig in a poke because the legislature didn’t get to the see the contract either! BNSF does all maintenance … they get to decide what the maintenance is, when it gets done and how much it costs – WE pay the bill … we had to upgrade the track to passenger standards and BNSF gets first priority on the use of that track so there are inherent limits on our utilization of our own property … we pay for new control systems … we get to bury the dead who have been killed at crossings … we inherit the risk of the environmental hazards along the tracks …. our communities that received property tax from the BNSF no longer get those taxes because the rail is off the tax rolls and in public hands. Where is the transparency on this issue is a bit more than opaque.

Actually, the Railrunner is serving an average of 5,000 people a day, according to Lawrence Rael, who was responsible for implementing the system. Think of it– something like 5,000 fewer cars on the road between Belen and Santa Fe. That means less pollution, less congestion on the highways, fewer road repairs needed. I hope the Railrunner is eventually extended to Las Cruces.