"Four Corners" New Mexico Freight Rail Project - Connection to BNSF Transcon

Effort advances to develop new rail line to Four Corners region of New Mexico


FARMINGTON, N.M. — Studies are in progress or will be launched for a proposed rail line to connect the Four Corners region of New Mexico to BNSF’s Southern Transcon main line, which would restore a rail connection to Farmington lost when the Denver & Rio Grande Western abandoned its narrow gauge line to the community in 1968.

The Four Corners Freight Rail project — a partnership of the New Mexico Department of Transportation, San Juan County, and the Navajo Nation — is projected to cost more than $1 billion, the Albuquerque Journal reports. In October, the effort received a $4 million Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant [see “FRA awards $2.4 billion in CRISI grants …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 29, 2024]. The Journal reports that money will help fund an analysis of prospective routes and preliminary engineering, including a National Environmental Policy Act review, which can take up to four years.

An earlier $2 million grant under the federal BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) program is funding a feasibility study, expected to be released in December. It has already led to identification of five potential routes. A website outlining the project emphasizes potential economic benefits; a fact sheet released in August says research by the New Mexico Economic Development Department and the City of Farmington found nearly $20 billion of products with projected demand for rail transport. Three public meetings on the project were held in August; a recording of a 24-minute presentation from those meetings is available here.
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