(The following story by Steve Ramirez appeared on the Las Cruces Sun-News website on July 26, 2010.)
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — It has to start with small steps by city leaders in Las Cruces and El Paso, but the goal is to someday provide commuter rail service between the cities.
Officials met last week with representatives of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Co., and Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima came away with two definite opinions: The cost to start commuter rail service won’t come cheap; and, he’s excited the service has the potential to become a reality.
“I felt before like it was just talk. But now I can see that there really is something behind it,” Miyagishima said.
Miyagishima’s optimism was bolstered by Thursday’s announcement from U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall that a $1 million earmark was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee that could pay for a study to determine the feasibility of commuter rail service and other transit alternatives.
The proposed appropriation is part of the U.S. government’s 2011 fiscal year Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. Jude McCartin, spokeswoman for Bingaman, said the proposed legislation is expected to considered soon by the full Senate.
Residents in Las Cruces and El Paso began lobbying for commuter rail service more than a year ago. Much of that desire is based on the success of the Rail Runner service in operation between Belen and Santa Fe.
“I’d love to see something like that happen here,” said Eloy Marcos, a Las Cruces resident who goes to El Paso every
week to visit numerous relatives and friends living there. “I’m sure there’s a lot of people in ‘Cruces and El Paso that would take advantage of it. It would sure save me a lot of wear and tear of coming and going as much as I do.”
Donelle Taylor, a retired shipping clerk, echoed the same thoughts and added a few more.
“Just about everywhere else I’ve lived has offered some kind of commuter service like this, and frankly I’m a little disappointed we don’t have it here,” Taylor said. “I don’t drive nearly as much as used to because I’m older and my eyesight is getting bad. But I would definitely use something like that, provided it was affordable and the places where people could board the train were convenient to get to.”
If the New Mexico Park and Ride program is any indication, Marcos and Taylor are spot on about the interest in commuter rail service. Bridget Spedalieri, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Department of Transportation, who administers the Park and Ride program, said the number of people who are riding the bus to and from Las Cruces has steadily increased since the program began in late August last year.
“We’ve seen that ridership increases and declines as school is in session. College students have, obviously, taken advantage of the program,” Spedalieri said. “However, the numbers continue to increase regardless of school, and we have seen growth and consistency in our ridership.”
The greatest increase in the number of riders in the Park and Ride program occurred from January to February when the average daily riders jumped from almost 93 a day to 110. Since then, average daily ridership has been at more than 100 riders, with statistics from the New Mexico Department of Transportation showing there were more than 125 daily passengers riding the commuter bus in May.
What makes those numbers more impressive is that the increase has come despite little to no promotion of the program.
“People realize that the Park and Ride is a great alternative source of transportation,” Spedalieri said. “It gets people to their destinations while decreasing air pollution within our communities.
“People are also telling us they like the service because they can get more work done during their commute. Riding the bus gives them extra time to work on their laptop computers, check their e-mails, read books or other materials they need for their jobs, or simply just to relax. They share those experiences with others who are interested about the program, and that’s brought more people.”
BNSF representatives told Miyagishima and El Paso officials that some infrastructure improvements would have to be made to accommodate commuter rail service. Currently, BNSF operates a non-signalized main track between the two cities that has a maximum speed of 49 mph. A second track would have to be built because trains use the main track fairly frequently. Daily, BNSF serves more than 100 customers between El Paso and Las Cruces and some of those trains often include as many as 100 cars.
For commuter rail service, the speed of the track between Las Cruces and El Paso would have to be increased to 79 mph, and road crossings would have to be improved to allow for trains traveling that fast. Another crucial consideration is that a minimum of 26.6 miles of a second main track would have to be constructed.
Also, three universal crossovers, and dual-control and electric lock switches would have to be installed at various locations.
BNSF representatives also offered some proposed commuter operations. Those recommendations included: train sets of a locomotive and three passenger cars, similar to Rail Runner, and allowing trains to dwell in El Paso and Las Cruces for 20 minutes for disembarking and embarking passengers.
Two morning and afternoon departure and arrival times were also suggested. In Las Cruces, BNSF representatives suggested that trains could leave at 6:37 a.m. and 7:52 a.m., and afternoon trips would leave Las Cruces at 3:52 p.m. and 5:07 p.m. Trips between the two cities would take 38 minutes.
But beyond those recommendations, BNSF representatives were hesitant to commit to anything.
“It would be premature at this time to make any firm commitments,” said Joe Faust, BNSF director of public affairs. “The project is still in the exploratory stage.”
Faust added the results of the study would be important.
“It is in the best interests of BNSF and all others concerned to wait for the study to be completed,” he said. “After the study has been completed, we will review the findings that will put us in an appropriate position to determine what further participation we might have in the project.”