From the
Las Cruces Sun-News - Editorial - Passenger trains. Pipe dream for here? It's just plain fact that passenger train service running north and south of Las Cruces is not economically feasible ... today. But there were lessons to be absorbed at last week's Las Cruces/El Paso Region Transportation Summit. The biggest may have been to at least be ready on paper - and at least be talking. When a big-ticket project is too expensive today - and passenger rail is just that - the next best thing is to plan for it later. Or light rail? Or high-speed rail? Such major infrastructure projects take years between talking around a table and getting the first dirt plow to the scene. And a big mistake made many times, here and elsewhere, is waiting until it's the eleventh hour before even starting to plan for big projects that we long knew would be needed. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower pushed through the nation's interstate highway system in the 1950s, we really needed it, and it came at just the right time before the two-lane roads made transportation of goods and people a bad headache. Roads between El Paso and Las Cruces will eventually become more and more crowded. Think in terms of our international bridges and that daily backup. Don't wait until the Interstate-10 commute is bumper-to-bumper before deciding to start talks on more modern methods of transportation - in this case the good old rail right-of-way.
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Passenger Rail: Begin serious plans now
From the Las Cruces Sun-News - Editorial - Passenger trains. Pipe dream for here? It's just plain fact that passenger train service running north and south of Las Cruces is not economically feasible ... today. But there were lessons to be absorbed at last week's Las Cruces/El Paso Region Transportation Summit. The biggest may have been to at least be ready on paper - and at least be talking. When a big-ticket project is too expensive today - and passenger rail is just that - the next best thing is to plan for it later. Or light rail? Or high-speed rail? Such major infrastructure projects take years between talking around a table and getting the first dirt plow to the scene. And a big mistake made many times, here and elsewhere, is waiting until it's the eleventh hour before even starting to plan for big projects that we long knew would be needed. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower pushed through the nation's interstate highway system in the 1950s, we really needed it, and it came at just the right time before the two-lane roads made transportation of goods and people a bad headache. Roads between El Paso and Las Cruces will eventually become more and more crowded. Think in terms of our international bridges and that daily backup. Don't wait until the Interstate-10 commute is bumper-to-bumper before deciding to start talks on more modern methods of transportation - in this case the good old rail right-of-way. Read more
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