(Article from the Las Cruces Sun-News on September 3)
LAS CRUCES — When all is said and done, about $300 million will be spent on Union Pacific Railroad infrastructure facilities to be built near Santa Teresa. It will include a fueling and freight-shipping center and eventually an intermodal facility where freight can be shifted between trucks and trains.
The company announced in 2006 that it will relocate some of its El Paso facilities into New Mexico. Luis Heredia, director of public affairs for Union Pacific, spoke on Tuesday at the monthly luncheon held by the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance. He said the company hopes construction will be completed by late 2010 or early 2011.
“This’ll cause the creation of 60 new jobs,” he said. “There will be the relocation of 285 jobs (from El Paso).”
Right now, though, the company is in the midst of acquiring the land necessary to build its southern New Mexico facilities. Earlier this year the federal government proposed a land trade with the state that would free up land for the railroad facility.
“This is a complicated two-step and we’re all learning to dance,” Heredia said. “It involves the BLM, the state Land Office, multiple players. We hope to complete the land acquisition by 2009.”
He said construction on the intermodal facility is set for 2014, but there is the chance that it could begin sooner.
“Once the intermodal train-to-truck transfer facility really takes off, that in itself will take a whirlwind of different industry that will be centered on distribution centers and those jobs are clearly going to benefit,” he said.
Fred Shepherd, the business development manager for MVEDA, said the effect on Dona Ana County from the Union Pacific facility will be significant.
“This is something that, down the pike, is going to have a big impact on the region,” he said.
Space symposium coming to museum
Pat Hynes, the director of the Space Grant Consortium at New Mexico State University, is the organizer of the fourth annual International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. It is scheduled to take place on Oct. 22 and 23 at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.
She told the gathered crowd at the Best Western Mesilla Valley Inn for the MVEDA luncheon that the symposium does more than just offer a gathering place for space enthusiasts.
“This symposium brings a lot back into the community,” she said. “The proceeds from ISPS fund students to work as interns at businesses that are coming to southern New Mexico.”
For information or to register, go to http://spacegrant.nmsu.edu/ispcs/index.html or call (575) 646-6414.