Train in Vain? Once a beacon of progress, the Rail Runner now faces an uncertain future

From the Santa Fe Reporter - It’s 6 pm in the middle of the week, and two-thirds of the seats on a southbound New Mexico Rail Runner Express train are full. Most of the passengers are coming home from a long day of work in Santa Fe. They live near or in Albuquerque, which offers a cheaper cost of living and “more things to do,” as one passenger puts it. On board, many of them shoot the breeze during the hour-long commute. A few chuckles and a feeling of camaraderie pervade the atmosphere. In its five-year history, the Rail Runner’s ridership has grown to 4,500 passengers per day. Last month, the train celebrated its 5 millionth passenger. Its financials, however, are far less rosy. This year, the Rail Runner lost $1.2 million in federal funding. By next year, the train, which costs roughly $24 million a year to run, could lose as much as $5 million. On top of that, a new study by the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration estimates that, in order to service debt the train has incurred, the state will be on the hook for a whopping $784 million by 2027. So far, the only solutions that have emerged are piecemeal—such as an impending fare increase, which will cover a meager 2.5 percent of the train’s total operating budget. The combination of mushrooming costs and a lack of big-picture solutions has led some detractors to push for shutting the Rail Runner down entirely. Read more

Train in Vain? Once a beacon of progress, the Rail Runner now faces an uncertain future