It is true that NM Governor Bill Richardson has purchased the rail rights, not the rail, from Albuquerque to Raton, thus preventing Amtrak from having the rights over that section of the rail. Amtrak is still running their passenger line, because they were there first. However, once NM starts running the Rail Runner on that line, it will very much so alter the schedules of Amtrak trains as well as BNSF. Neither Amtrak or BNSF is pleased with this, but they were paid enough by NM. BNSF still owns the rail and will have to maintain the rail. NM did purchase the rail, in fact built it with contract company Twin Mountain Construction, from 17 miles south of Santa Fe to Downtown Santa Fe itself. This rail is only for the Rail Runner, for Amtrak, you will still have to go Lamy, NM for the time being.
For the time being, NM has no plans for expansion of the rail runner along that section from Santa Fe to Raton, but in 2010, they will (plan to, at any rate) start work on having the rail runner running from Albuquerque to Raton. Amtrak is thinking of just stopping their passenger line from Albuquerque to Raton when that starts to facilitate schedules and reduce cost.
This, of course, is bad news for us and here is why: At the same time that this is going on, Colorado is also thinking of starting up their own passenger line very similar to the rail runner that will run from Trinidad to Denver. The exact same thing will happen between Colorado's state government and Amtrak and BNSF. In short, it will be next to impossible to get an Amtrak line running from Ft. Worth to anywhere with each state setting up their own little railroads and running on the lines where Amtrak would have gone.
This is what I have been up to lately: I have been racing against the clock to beat Colorado to the punch in setting up the rail line. I already have New Mexico's promise to not interfere and to support what I have been doing, and Wyoming and Montana, who do not have the funds to set up their rail roads, are also in support of my project. But, Colorado is being reluctant. A week or so ago I made mention of local interests trying to take this idea and only use it toward their own ends, now you can guess who I was talking about.
Right now, my stumbling block has been trying to convince state entities of the bigger picture, rather than trying to figure out how they can get their name in the paper. Also, I am racing against the clock to get the much bigger Amtrak line out there before too many small lines clog up the rails and schedules. When that happens, train passengers will be doing the same thing that airline passengers do when they catch a connecting flight, only it will be to catch a connecting train every time you come to a state border. Which is not efficient and is wasteful of both time and money.
As for the re-route through Amarillo, Colorado is fighting any mention of that because it would cut short their plans for their rail, and would take money away from Trinidad's major rail hub. Once the Rail Runner hits Raton, it stops there. Amtrak would then has to pick up the passengers to carry on toward La Junta. But this is all speculative talk of the future, because for the time being, New Mexico is broke and is trying to figure out how to pay for the rail transportation that they have thus so far created. Which is another reason why other states like Texas, or so I was told, are kind of reluctant about jumping on the passenger train -- how do you pay for it?
I hope this sheds some light on this very, very complex matter.
