Albuquerque New Mexico Rail Runner Railrunner

I was just wondering if anyone had any current information regarding the Zia Location in Santa Fe? Will this be opening this year sometime? Or any links for information. Thank you!

blackroze79 wrote:I was just wondering if anyone had any current information regarding the Zia Location in Santa Fe? Will this be opening this year sometime? Or any links for information. Thank you!

Still appears to be delayed indefinitely. It was waiting for a "master plan" for the surrounding area to be approved by Santa Fe and the developers, and that simply hasn't happened yet.

Not delayed as long as Sandia Pueblo yet though.... I still don't know what's holding that up...

are the trains turned at the termini? or is there a control car at the rear of the trains, and they run backwards, in if so which direction do they run engine forward?

When I observed the operation in March 2008 all trains had the locomotive on the compass south end of the train. Control car was, of course, on the north end.

TB Diamond wrote:When I observed the operation in March 2008 all trains had the locomotive on the compass south end of the train. Control car was, of course, on the north end.

That is what I noted at Santa Fe about 1-1/2 years ago.

Say goodbye to weekend service come late August!

http://nmrailrunner.com/weekend-cut.asp

(Albuquerque, NM – June 17th, 2011) – As part of discussions and deliberations concerning balancing the FY12 budget, which is 1.2 million dollars less than the previous fiscal year's budget, the Rio Metro Regional Transit District Board voted to eliminate weekend service on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express. The board had been considering two weekday schedule options to address the budget reduction, but in a six-to-five vote earlier today, board members instead took action to eliminate weekend service to balance the Fiscal Year 2012 Federal budget.

I was in Santa Fe today, why doesnt the train stay at the station between runs rather than moving down the line to a single track portion on the highway?

atsf sp wrote:I was in Santa Fe today, why doesnt the train stay at the station between runs rather than moving down the line to a single track portion on the highway?

I assume to reduce diesel emissions and soot away from the train station because the locomotives idle between runs.

Amtrak7 wrote:Say goodbye to weekend service come late August!

http://nmrailrunner.com/weekend-cut.asp

(Albuquerque, NM – June 17th, 2011) – As part of discussions and deliberations concerning balancing the FY12 budget, which is 1.2 million dollars less than the previous fiscal year's budget, the Rio Metro Regional Transit District Board voted to eliminate weekend service on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express. The board had been considering two weekday schedule options to address the budget reduction, but in a six-to-five vote earlier today, board members instead took action to eliminate weekend service to balance the Fiscal Year 2012 Federal budget.

Sigh. This is actively stupid; weekend service was getting higher ridership than weekday service on many weekends, and eliminating weekend service is an invitation to people to stop using the train.

This is the problem with mindless slash-and-slash budgeting. Raising 1.2 million dollars in taxes would have been the rational thing to do, though I don't know if they have the taxing power or are dependent on the whims of other officials (haven't followed the political structure of NM).

As of this week, weekend service will be retained, and other trains will be combined/curtailed/replaced by bus to get the budget savings needed. Management is attempting to get creative, and some of the communities are scrounging for dollars to help.

There are quite a few improvements that need to be done

1) Scrap a 4:02 train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, I would try and have it based in Santa Fe instead.
2) Get power plug ins at Belen and Santa Fe, reduce diessel idling.
3) During the holiday periods (Christmas time, not Eve or Day) add an additional midday train, two years ago, a 5 car consist I was on was standing room only, I heard it was the same for the trip back.
4) Add some more P&R capacity. Albuquerque is very auto friendly, so getting people out of the car is hard due to a lack of a frequent transit network. Montano station should help with this.

There is definitely some success for this train since the Santa Fe portion was added, hopefully in the future, it can be uprgaded to 90 mph and service every two hours, but that is a long way off.

MCHammer wrote:There are quite a few improvements that need to be done

1) Scrap a 4:02 train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, I would try and have it based in Santa Fe instead.
2) Get power plug ins at Belen and Santa Fe, reduce diessel idling.
3) During the holiday periods (Christmas time, not Eve or Day) add an additional midday train, two years ago, a 5 car consist I was on was standing room only, I heard it was the same for the trip back.
4) Add some more P&R capacity. Albuquerque is very auto friendly, so getting people out of the car is hard due to a lack of a frequent transit network. Montano station should help with this.

There is definitely some success for this train since the Santa Fe portion was added, hopefully in the future, it can be uprgaded to 90 mph and service every two hours, but that is a long way off.

You're not going to see any improvements that need capital investment for a while. People are struggling hard enough to keep the operation alive.

Well, Sandia Pueblo station finally opened on August 25, 2011 (only a few *years* after its scheduled opening).

That just leaves Zia Road in the "indefinitely delayed" category.

They seem to have finished installing CTC on everything except a couple of miles surrounding the Albuquerque station, and the Santa Fe terminal area.

The purchase of the BNSF line north of Lamy appears to be temporarily dead thanks to the current state government not being able to spot a good deal when they saw one.

Railrunner is now discussing raising fares, which everyone here thought were ludicrously low, so they'll probably do that.

New fares: http://www.nmrailrunner.com/fare-survey.asp

A one way from ABQ to Santa Fe now costs $9 instead of $7. The day pass also increases by $2.

On April 7,NMRX will resume the saturday service back to Sept 10 2011 levels and later on will revamp the weekday schedules.
On certain trains there is now a "quiet car",next to the power.
1set of equipment is kept in Santa Fe(plugged in) overnight and weekends that becomes train#504 weekday am
2 sets of equipment are kept on the siding "Richardson" during weekday service,that siding is in the I-25 median
done at City of Santa Fe request!
The Santa Fe depot was "updated" to ADA specs by the city of Santa Fe,the interior is "santized" now,the "charm" is gone,
and houses a city police "substation" as well.
Santa Fe Southern now sells their tickets on the platform.
Not sure on how to setup the link,the website is,www.nmrailrunner.com