Blog: Opportunities for rail expansion in New Mexico

A Realistic Future for Passenger Rail in New Mexico

By Patrick Martin, Strong Towns ABQ Member, BikeABQ President

Passenger rail has been experiencing a renaissance in the United States, with new and expanded rail lines across the country opening in recent years and experiencing record ridership. New Mexico has so far not joined this zeitgeist---while the Rail Runner has improved frequencies and service capacity in recent years, the overall form of passenger rail in the state looks much the same now as it has for the past 15 years.

That is not to say that there is a lack of demand, need, or opportunities for intercity rail in New Mexico. Amtrak's Southwest Chief is well used by Albuquerque: four of the top ten most-used city pairs on the Southwest Chief include Albuquerque, and moreover the Albuquerque to Gallup route is the only internal segment of the route to make the top ten. The Federal Railroad Administration last year completed a study of potential additions to Amtrak's long distance network: two of the proposed new routes go through New Mexico, providing new east-west and north-south passenger rail connectivity in the state.

Passenger rail also fills an important role in the connectivity and resiliency of transportation in our state: severe weather is common, especially around the central mountains and the northwest, that can degrade the ability to travel on I-40 or I-25. I-40 in particular is becoming increasingly important as a freight trucking route, which increases congestion and discomfort for east-west passenger travel in the state. Passenger rail is less susceptible to the same weather and traffic issues that threaten road travel, enabling reliable transportation in our state. Additionally, providing rail connections to Albuquerque and its Sunport facilitates travel to the rest of the country and the economic benefits that entails to our less-centrally-located towns. Where intra-state rail can be expanded to inter-state rail, rail connections to Flagstaff, Amarillo, El Paso, and Colorado Springs can all offer reduced travel times and increased flexibility over the existing non-direct air routes.

With the upcoming review of the State Rail Plan, I wanted to highlight what I think are the most realistic options for new passenger rail service in New Mexico. Notably missing from this is service improvements to the Rail Runner: while certainly a topic I care about (and will likely write about later!), the Rail Runner already has known service expansion options and capital improvement plans. With the last State Rail Plan being adopted over 10 years ago, we have a fairly blank slate for what new rail service could look like, and so I would like to focus on what options should be looked at currently.

The easiest expansions of passenger rail come from using existing tracks. The BNSF Transcon between Gallup and Albuquerque/Belen is perhaps the biggest opportunity: a route between Albuquerque and Gallup stopping at Belen would have a travel time of about 3 hours, with an optional extension to Santa Fe. As mentioned earlier, the Gallup-Albuquerque route already has demonstrated demand, despite the severe unreliability of the Southwest Chief, and the Transcon already hosts passenger rail---some sections permit trains to reach 90 mph! Co-running with the Southwest Chief also augments frequency: it is possible to have a morning, afternoon, and evening arrival at both Albuquerque and Gallup using a single consist that stays overnight in the Albuquerque railyard. Extensions to Flagstaff or Farmington could also be introduced, depending on interest in Arizona and the quality of the new Four Corners connector tracks.

The second option for using existing tracks also uses the BNSF Transcon, but out to the east. This has been proposed for passenger use a few times, first for an averted re-routing of the Southwest Chief in the 2010s, and second in the FRA's study as part of a larger route between Phoenix and Minneapolis. The eastern Transcon tracks would require some upgrades for passenger use as their current top speed is only 70 mph, and there is not a substantial population base in eastern New Mexico to support the service: the only substantial urbanization along the tracks is Clovis (population 35,000) and nearby Cannon AFB (employment 15,000). If extended into Texas to reach Lubbock or especially Amarillo, however, this route could support a significant connection, as its likely 5.5 hour duration would be time-competitive with driving (4 hours) and flying (4-6 hours). As noted in the next paragraph, however, rail connections into Texas are risky.

Finally, a southern passenger rail connection between Las Cruces and El Paso has been discussed for many years. While certainly a valid consideration---strengthening the ties between our second largest city and its larger neighbor---previous analyses have indicated this project has a hefty price tag of around $1 billion. The existing tracks between Las Cruces and El Paso are of relatively poor quality, with a top speed of 50 mph, and it is not clear that Texas or El Paso has expressed much interest in this connection. We can look at the experience of the Heartland Flyer, another (much longer) inter-state rail connection and the difficulty it has faced securing operations funding from Texas, as well as the ongoing struggles of Texas Central Railway, as warnings for the feasibility of maintaining railway agreements that involve the State of Texas.

These are largely the three reasonable options for passenger rail expansion using existing tracks. The northern Southwest Chief route could easily support additional passenger traffic, however the slow track speed through Glorieta Pass substantially limits the comparative utility of regional rail versus regional buses, which do exist between Santa Fe and Las Vegas. Additionally, while there currently exist tracks between Albuquerque and Las Cruces, they currently only support 40-50 mph speeds, and passenger transit through the Belen railyard will likely be tricky to accomplish.

For routes that would involve laying new tracks, the clear favorite is the north-south Albuquerque to Las Cruces connection, serving Socorro and other small southern towns as well. Building new tracks enables substantially higher speeds: while true "high speed rail" of 160+ mph trains would likely be cost prohibitive and unsupported by the population of the state, more modest but still-impressive speeds of 125 mph could be feasible. This modesty should provide significant cost savings, primarily through permitting the use of diesel-electric trains that are well-understood elsewhere in the country. While an extension of regional service to El Paso remains unlikely, establishing this route facilitates the creation of the long-distance Amtrak route between El Paso and Billings by filling in a large portion of the infrastructure gap needed for that route---and long-distance routes are much less vulnerable to state-specific politics.

There is one other passenger route involving new tracks that is possibly worth investigating, which is connecting Santa Fe to Taos. The primary reason is due to a graphic design decision by Colorado's Front Range Passenger Rail project as a future connection from Denver into New Mexico: instead of following the existing Amtrak route south of Trinidad through the Raton and Glorieta Passes to enter Santa Fe from the south, their design heads west shortly after crossing into New Mexico to enter Santa Fe from the north, apparently through Taos. If plausible, this extension could also facilitate passenger service to Denver---Colorado is notably likely a better partner in interstate passenger rail than Texas. The Taos extension adds some value in itself; beyond connecting the various northern towns to the rail network, the route could act as a "ski train", which are increasingly popular up in Colorado.

Quality rail service involves much more than lines on a map: travel times and frequency are obviously important, but so too is the infrastructure around the station stops. If passengers cannot get to where they need to go from the station, and if the area around the station doesn't serve as a place people want to go, the utility of passenger service is greatly diminished. These concerns should shape downstream planning and investment opportunities by the local communities that would benefit from the new passenger services I've discussed above, but the first step is studying the viability of even establishing the routes in the first place. I hope this new iteration of the State Rail Plan takes a strong look at connecting more of our communities by rail in New Mexico.