Passenger Trains > The future of the NM Rail Runner???

This topic is buried pretty deeply in this thread:  http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3703012

Therefore, I am taking the liberty of starting a new post regarding the story.  I want to thank "Cumbresfan" for providing the NM Legislature link.

http://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/15%20Regular/memorials/house/HM127.pdf

Who would buy it?

Liquidating the rolling stock would not be near enough to pay off the loans.

Funding for transportation is always dicey when there's no dedicated funding source other than a farebox. Relying on the legislature to appropriate funds every year is a challenge.

In some cases, like NY's Metropolitan Transportation District, the fares and bridge tolls, a one quarter of one percent sales tax surcharge, a surcharge on income earned in the counties covered, a small surcharge on real estate sales, etc help close the gaps. Issuing boat loads of bonds and hoping for the best is often not the most effective long term way to finance a new rail service.

In addition to fares, the four counties that the Rail Runner serves passed a 1/8-cent gross receipts tax back in 2008 that supports both it and local transportation (buses to meet trains). Together with fares, it still doesn't meet operating costs which require state and federal subsidies.
http://riometro.org/about/mission-and-services

In addition to the $220 million in balloon payments due in ten years, this could be a killer too:

the debt service payments for the remaining bond
debt for the rail runner are currently costing between twentyeight
million dollars ($28,000,000) and twenty-nine million
dollars ($29,000,000) annually and equal approximately fiftyfive
percent of the department of transportation's construction
budget



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 06:58 by Cumbresfan.

How is the funding for other infrastructure financed?  i.e. to build or repave roads, etc?

It is hard to understand how a 'Department of Transportation' can give other modes whatever is needed, but starve anything rail related.    Happens everywhere, but it has to change assuming we can agree that there are benefits of rail transportation. 

P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is hard to understand how a 'Department of
> Transportation' can give other modes whatever is
> needed, but starve anything rail related.   
> Happens everywhere, but it has to change assuming
> we can agree that there are benefits of rail
> transportation. 

It depends. Just because the project has a train in it, does not mean that the benefits are there and they exceed the costs. This one was questionable from the start.

It's a pity, because it poisons the well for the good rail projects.

for one thing, their fare schedule is nuts. for all 6 zones, one way is $10 or $11 for a day pass ($10 online)!!! and that's 95 miles of service from belen to santa fe. it should be more like $15 each way with a break on a day pass, maybe $20/$25.

i know fare pricing is a tricky business, but i think they not getting enough for the service they provide. dave, out.

P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How is the funding for other infrastructure
> financed?  i.e. to build or repave roads, etc?

Infrastructure in NM doesn't just include roads; it includes schools, universities, hospitals, senior centers, courts, fire and police stations, and the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR. It is financed by severance tax bonds.

Excerpt from a Trains Magazine Newswire article:

The C&TS is among many entities left empty handed when a $264 million statewide package of projects died at the constitutional
deadline for adjournment on March 21. ... The spending dispute hinges on Republican Martinez's $60 million highway program, which Republicans want to fund with debt [severance tax bonds] while Democrats favored tapping reserves or raising the gasoline tax. ... The House passed the overall bill with 18 minutes left in the session with Senate leaders saying that left no time to consider the $80 million in amendments that in part took money from colleges and senior centers to spend on highways.
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2015/03/cumbres--toltec-scenic-loses-out-to-political-gridlock?

In the end, all funding for all state infrastructure construction died for this year. The next session of the legislature begins in January 2016. Funding for state operations (the budget bill) was passed to operate state facilities, including money in excess of fares for the Cumbres and Toltec.

[BTW, a lot of the highway money comes from the Feds; this was in addition to federal money.]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 09:14 by Cumbresfan.

Cumbresfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The next session of the legislature begins in
> January 2016.

Wait, huh??  What do they do for the rest of the year??

(I know this is not only New Mexico, but the whole thing around how legislators work raises a lot of questions.....)

The state fiscal year begins July 1. State operations are funded by the budget (schools, courts, prisons, health programs, etc.) which was passed. Construction projects scheduled to begin after July 1 are postponed or dropped. In the case of the Cumbres and Toltec work approved by the state Senate included trackwork, passenger car work, steam engine work required by the FRA, water supply upgrades, sandhouse repair, and planning for the new visitor center. The state House stripped all but water supply, sandhouse repair and visitor center planning. And that work too was lost in the capital outlay blowup.

[BTW, I'm a fan of the NM system - 30 days legislature in even-numbered years, 60 days in odd-numbered years. Most of the time it works and only necessary legislation is passed. Give politicians too much time to legislate and they make all sorts of mischief  (the big item that captured the press and media was a bill to make NM stay on daylight savings time all year; it died when the legislature adjourned). In the case of the capital outlay funding, the system didn't work.]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 09:48 by Cumbresfan.

Thanks for the update.  Are the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec still active with restoring cars, equipment etc?

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the update.  Are the Friends of the
> Cumbres & Toltec still active with restoring cars,
> equipment etc?

Very much so, especially cars used in freight service and available for photo freight charters plus maintaining/restoration of historic structures. Funding for major work on the engines, passenger cars and trackwork comes from the states of NM and CO.

Two live web cams plus seven CO DOT cams:
http://www.coloradonewmexicosteamtrain.org/camera-portal-horizontal.htm

Cumbresfan:


The New Mexico system has a huge hole, in that it prevents any regular person with a family and needing a salary from running for office as a legislator.  This means only independently wealthy persons or people with an independent source of income, or an ability to make their professional schedule flexible (i.e. trial attorneys, financial planners, accountants) can reasonably serve as legislators.  It also creates funding chaos with artificial deadlines on complex questions, and by ceding the field to the executive, tends to overemower the executive branch (as seen by Richardson ginning up the RailRunner funding fiasco to begin with).


I know not everyone sees this as a defect, some people see it as a virtue of the system.  I don't.

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cumbresfan:
>
>
> The New Mexico system has a huge hole, in that it
> prevents any regular person with a family and
> needing a salary from running for office as a
> legislator.  This means only independently
> wealthy persons or people with an independent
> source of income, or an ability to make their
> professional schedule flexible (i.e. trial
> attorneys, financial planners, accountants) can
> reasonably serve as legislators.  It also creates
> funding chaos with artificial deadlines on complex
> questions, and by ceding the field to the
> executive, tends to overepower the executive
> branch (as seen by Richardson ginning up the
> RailRunner funding fiasco to begin with).
>
>
> I know not everyone sees this as a defect, some
> people see it as a virtue of the system.  I
> don't.

You like the Federal system where members of Congress make a lifelong career out of their service, earn fat paychecks, are beholden to lobbyists, take frequent recesses, and are isolated from the people that elected them??

There are problems with both systems but again for a small, generally rural state the system generally works. And paid or unpaid, it takes time away from employment to serve. The same criticism could be placed on the jury system, especially for lengthy trials.

Regarding Richardson and the RR, he had both House and Senate under control of Democrats who essentially rubber stamped his plans.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 10:44 by Cumbresfan.

With the Rail Runner situation as complicated as it now is, any ideas on what the state might do next?

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With the Rail Runner situation as complicated as
> it now is, any ideas on what the state might do
> next?

Heck no. We don't even know whether the politicians will come up with a compromise to allow infrastructure funding. Probably so, but not for a month or more - too many angry folks still doing lots of finger pointing at each other. I'm just thankful that Amtrak will continue running in NM - for a while longer at least.

WHY is public transportation such as NM Railrunner always starved to death, but there is always $500M to build some freeway interchange??

Rail Runner is an excellent system built by visionary people.  20% of us cannot and should not drive cars; we're old, young, disabled, etc.   Public transportation should be as natural for every state, city and rural area of this country, as the ever present roads that we seem to build. 

The future of Rail Runner should be expansion:
 - extend to Lamy-Las Vegas, Grants, Socorro & Vaughn.

The line seems to operate in some wide open spaces without many passengers to carry. Fares are so low they basically give the service away.



MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WHY is public transportation such as NM Railrunner
> always starved to death, but there is always $500M
> to build some freeway interchange??
>
> Rail Runner is an excellent system built by
> visionary people.  20% of us cannot and should
> not drive cars; we're old, young, disabled,
> etc.   Public transportation should be as
> natural for every state, city and rural area of
> this country, as the ever present roads that we
> seem to build. 
>
> The future of Rail Runner should be expansion:
>  - extend to Lamy-Las Vegas, Grants, Socorro &
> Vaughn.

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WHY is public transportation such as NM Railrunner
> always starved to death, but there is always $500M
> to build some freeway interchange??
>
> Rail Runner is an excellent system built by
> visionary people.  20% of us cannot and should
> not drive cars; we're old, young, disabled,
> etc.   Public transportation should be as
> natural for every state, city and rural area of
> this country, as the ever present roads that we
> seem to build. 
>
> The future of Rail Runner should be expansion:
>  - extend to Lamy-Las Vegas, Grants, Socorro &
> Vaughn.

In New Mexico's case, the opposite is true.  The Rail Runner soaked up a lot of the highway funding, from what I've read.

I wonder if this means (in a Rail Runner shutdown) we (BNSF) get dispatching of Belen (CP Ross) - isleta - Lamy back? Herzog, who now holds the contract for NM Rail Runner, won't do it for free and the track-age rights fees they get from BNSF probably isn't enough. All that CTC that NMRX put in between CP Ross (Belen) and CP Madrid would be nice. I guess the line down the middle of I-25 between CP Madrid and Santa Fe would be abandoned in place as there's no freight business in Santa Fe anymore. Caltrans, or some other western commuter rail operator, would snarf up the equipment pretty quickly I would guess.