Posted on 09/12/2007 8:07:57 AM PDT by CedarDave
The state faces "a perfect storm" as far as paying for transportation infrastructure is concerned...
With that in mind, it only makes sense for the state to divert scarce transportation dollars from the proposed Rail Runner extension to Santa Fe and plow those dollars into road construction and maintenance.
[While] Rail Runner's projected total cost is $400 million, those costs are not evenly-distributed. Phase I of the project from Belen to Bernalillo, which is now in service, cost $135 million. The Bernalillo-Belen segment of the proposed RailRunner route is approximately 51 miles long— more than half of the system's proposed length— and comprises just one-third of the project's cost in part since the track was already in place.
Phase II from Bernalillo to Santa Fe is where the Rail Runner's costs rise quickly and for a relatively small gain in potential passengers. Original estimates for Phase II were between $240 and $255 million which includes money for the construction of 20 miles of brand new railroad track. ...
While the costs of running the train another 40-plus miles will cost more than $100 million higher than the existing route, the net gain for such expenditures will be quite small. With the current route serving a population base in excess of 700,000 and the extension to Santa Fe to serve a base of only 80,000 people, it seems highly unlikely that extending the system to Santa Fe will do much to boost current ridership far beyond the current 2,000 or so daily riders...
There is no doubt that even an abbreviated version of the Rail Runner will still lose money... In fact, the estimates that annual operating costs for the train will rise from $9.5 million to $20 million— on top of the $255 million necessary to compete the project.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Laying new track can only be considered a major public works project and $255 million must be considered merely a starting point, especially with material costs on the rise.
What's not mentioned is the cost of engineering an expensive cut and fill project to climb La Bajada hill, a volcanic escarpment that causes many underpowered trucks and cars on the 75 mph adjacent interstate to creep up the hill at 20-25 mph if that. The builders of the original rail line to Santa Fe avoided the hill by starting from Lamy, another 20 miles or so further north. That line is still used but is 15-20 mph through the SF foothills and not suitable for any but tourist traffic and occasional freight.
NM taxpayers paying for the RR will be Richardson's legacy, not being President of the US.
I'm just observing that the it's the 50th anniversary of the publication of "Atlas Shrugged" and it would be nice if we didn't have to worry about government bureaucrats making choices as to whether or not railroads ought to live or die. They never seem to get it right.
For those not familiar with Albuquerque, most of the population is between the N-S railroad and the Sandia mountains to the east and Rio Rancho/Paradise Hills and West Mesa to the west. The RR doesn't do any of the population base any good except soak up taxpayer dollars.
NM PING!!
Guess what? Some of the contractors awarded contracts for the new construction/SF rail yard redevelopment are Friends of Bill and have contributed mightily to his presidential campaign. In fact, after one such contract was revealed by the press, he ordered it canceled and rebid.
Who’d have thought...
If you want on or off the NM Ping list, please FReepmail me.
Use the Pork Barrel and Earmark money to fix our highways and bridges. Stop all of it and there’s plenty of the tax payers money available.
The folks there should study the light rail crime committed in San Jose, CA..
Uncounted millions poured into a light rail that goes from nowhere to nowhere else...
Every rider must be subsidized due to low ridership..
Taxes to build the damned thing, and more taxes to run a money losing business.
The drunks and homeless utilize the train as a moving air conditioned crash pad...
Here is the deal that should be required for all crazy “build it and they will come” schemes.
If it is built — and it comes in over budget or loses money — all salaries for the “civil servants” pushing, managing or employed by the “scheme” must be surrendered to meet the shortfall..
THEN, see if they still think it’s a good idea.
Ask THEM to put THEIR money where their mouth is....
Where is Gary Johnson when we need him?
He's too busy falling off the Himalayas or biking through Mongolia to help. :^)
I need to point out that at any time if the state decides the train is economically unfeasible and abandons the 3 phase purchase of the rail road line all new track and upgrades revert back to BNSF at no cost to them, i.e., the state writes off the $400 million. Also note that Faught has said that the emergency is due to a 28% inflation of construction material that could not be foreseen. However I would like to point out that operational and maintenance cost has jumped from $9.5 million to $20+ million that is an inflation rate of 110.5%. By the way BNSF has to approve the state operational and maintenance budget before it is submitted to the Legislature and the Governor and the state is required to fully fund that budget even at the expense of K-12 education.
Meanwhile, Bernalillo County has some of the worst maintained roads in the U.S.
BNSF has said they will no longer run trains from Trinidad to ABQ over Raton and Glorieta passes as they have the old C&S/BN line from Trinidad to Amarillo and the old SF line from Amarillo to La Junta on which they run trains (mainly coal) directionally. If they no longer use the line except from Belen to ABQ, how would that change the agreement, if at all since Amtrak still uses the line?
Bottom line, what a sweetheart deal for BNSF!!!
Doesn’t Richardson wish!!
(or is it a picture of illegal aliens on the RR from Laredo or Presidio northward!)
Fare recovery is estimated at $1.4 million, which is less than 15% of $9.5 million in operational costs and only 7% for the higher operational costs!!! Let's just buy everyone a new car with a driver. It would have to be cheaper!!
This isn’t light rail, but commuter rail on standard RR tracks. However, the ABQ mayor tried to sell the population on light rail in the city earlier this year, but the city council and the press shot him down.
Do not tempt the Legislature, they considered proposed to buy everybody in the state that was on welfare a car during the first year of Gov. Johnson's administration.
Also Amtrax only uses a small segment of the rail line as it is a east/west train.
· BNSF will retains an exclusive, permanent easement for fright operations · Annul freight revenue of NMDOT will not exceed $5 million per year
· AMTRAK's use of the line is between BNSF and AMTRAK not between the AMTRAK and the state.
See post 21
NN Ping
Hmph.
So, is it safe yet to assume that RailRunner is NOT going to be a panacea for all of New Mexico’s transportation needs, and might even be a burden to the taxpayers?
Knock me over with a straw!!!
;-)
But what scares me is that in a recession year and when the state is short revenue dollars, the operational and maintenance budget for the rail line will still have to be fully funded even if we have to steal money from the K-12 education potion of the overall budget. Why would we cut the education budget to meet that need, the answer is simple the K-12 portion of the budget represents 47% of the overall state budget.
But what scares me is that in a recession year and when the state is short revenue dollars, the operational and maintenance budget for the rail line will still have to be fully funded even if we have to steal money from the K-12 education potion of the overall budget. Why would we cut the education budget to meet that need, the answer is simple the K-12 portion of the budget represents 47% of the overall state budget.
Sorry about the double posting my system or communication link had a hic-up.
By the way, notice in a previous posting by agreement between the BNSF, the Fed Transportation Board, and the state we can only make $5 million a year. Now assume that is net so that all operational and maintenance cost are covered (which will never happen). It will take 80 years before the state and its taxpayers break even and we start making a profit on our investment
Amtrak uses the track from the junction with the Belen-ABQ track near Isleta to the Colorado border, stopping in ABQ, Lamy, Las Vegas and Raton.
So BNSF can justify lots of maintenance on the line, even if they don’t use it for freight anymore, because they have the agreement as host RR for Amtrak. Gotta install all that welded rail and upgrade those ancient semaphores to fancy signals — that costs lots of money for one train a day each way. Sweet (for them).
Oh but CedarDave it gets better. Also buried in the varous agreements (there are actually three)if capital damage is done to the rail road infrastructure by either a BNSF or AMTRAK train it is the responsibility of the State of NM to repair that damage at the cost of NM.
I can see it now. A BNSF freight traveling between Belen and ABQ derails because of poor maintenance, also performed by BNSF, and the state has to pay. Or an axle overheats on a freight car leading to a derailment and again the state has to pay. What a way to run a RR!! BNSF lawyers must be high-fiving over a coup over a bunch of state lawyers led by Patricia Madrid.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Panel Endorses User Fees For Roads
A new vehicle user fee was one of several proposals endorsed Friday by a New Mexico legislative advisory group to help inject cash into the state's underfunded transportation system.
The fee would be based on axle weight, making it far less for cars than for 18-wheelers. The estimated average fee would be $69 annually.
The user fee recommendation and others, if adopted by the Legislature, could produce nearly $400 million a year, of which roughly $104 million would come from the new vehicle user fee. Most of the new money would come from earmarking existing state revenue for the state's highways.
Other ideas endorsed by the legislative study group include:
Dedicate 2.5 percent of the state's gross receipts tax, or $128 million a year, to transportation needs.
Dedicate all of the state's motor vehicle excise tax collection, or $122 million a year, to the state road fund. The money now goes to the state general fund.
Dedicate to the road fund all gross receipt taxes from highway contractors. Approximately $39 million from this source now goes to the general fund.
Improve compliance with the state's existing weight-distance tax and trip tax on commercial trucking, which could bring in $19 million.
Give regional districts authority to use local gross receipt tax dollars on highway construction projects.
-SNIP-
New Mexico's looming crisis is the result of what some officials call a perfect storm of factors.
The state's share of the operating costs for the Belen-to-Santa Fe Rail Runner commuter train could rise soon, and some legislators fear the train costs could compete with roads for money.
The state already needs to make up an additional $75 million in federal funding that hasn't come through for Rail Runner construction and start-up costs.
Soaring inflation in construction costs is another factor. For example, asphalt is one of the main ingredients in making roads and its cost has risen dramatically, Faught said.
Experts predict the cost of asphalt will rise faster than fuel prices, leading the state's transportation agency to ask contractors to bid on contracts using concrete or asphalt.
Meanwhile, fewer federal dollars overall are coming in for New Mexico highway construction.
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