Rail Runner: Go big or go lean? (NM-Richardson's Railroad, bleeding rivers of red-ink)

KRQE News 13 Albuquerque ^ | August 16, 2011 | Dean Staley

[Disambiguator]

When I was in ABQ back in June, we looked into riding the train. I was shocked at how inexpensive the tickets are. It’s no wonder the thing is losing money so quickly (it would lose money no matter what - that’s what passenger rail does).

The tram ride to the top of the mountains was hideously expensive by comparison.

[AZLiberty]

Get Obama and the democrats to pass an ObamaRide law requiring every citizen to purchase an annual train pass from the nearest commuter railroad.

New Mexico has already done that. $60M deficit for 2M people means that the "average" New Mexican purchases a $30 train pass every year -- and then needs to pay to actually get on the train.

[BfloGuy]

“Maybe you put slot machines on some of the trains, I’m not sure,” said Abraham, who is also mayor of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.

For hack politicians, there's nothing that a little casino gambling can't fix.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Badge,
If they’re gonna have slots, they might as well have alcohol and pole dancers!

[MasterGunner01]

Solution: Every government employee must ride the train from ABQ to SF every day (including weekends) at $100 per round trip. No exceptions AND 80 percent of their salaries will be taxed at 100 percent to cover operating costs. I know . . . what if you're a gubmint employee in Rattlesnake, NM, population 2 (not including snakes)? I guess you'll have to commute to ABQ or SF (whichever is closer) and you cannot use a state vehicle.

OR, you could shutdown this stupidity and sell the thing. Is Amtrak interested? How about Indian or Chinese National Railways? What's the scrap price for a railroad? Oh, yeah, since there's no railroad we don't need state union employees either. Fire them all.

[az_gila]

At first it was at least competitive timewise with commuting by car, but then every little pueblo (Indian reservation) demanded a stop on its land so family didn’t have to use private vehicles to get grandma to the doctor in SF or ABQ once a month, so now it’s mostly tourists.

---

Whoa... just over one and a half hours for 60 miles - and they call this high speed rail?

http://www.nmrailrunner.com/PDF/weekday-2011-v1.pdf

[JudyM]

We do not have the population density to support this train. Had the $$ been used to expand the lanes between ABQ and Santa Fe they would have been spent more wisely. Richardson’s legacy is not only that of complete and utter corruption, but a train that will eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) be shut down, sold and just be a sad memory.

There remains the issue of many people in ABQ working in Santa Fe and the long commute, but some new thinking about buses or vans would be far less expensive and would have a closer relationship to cost/benefit for the users.

[CedarDave]

Solution: Every government employee must ride the train from ABQ to SF every day (including weekends) at $100 per round trip. No exceptions AND 80 percent of their salaries will be taxed at 100 percent to cover operating costs. I know . . . what if you're a gubmint employee in Rattlesnake, NM, population 2 (not including snakes)? I guess you'll have to commute to ABQ or SF (whichever is closer) and you cannot use a state vehicle.

There was Republican-sponsored legislation introduced a couple of years ago to do just that! Of course in a Rat controlled legislature with a Rat administration, it went nowhere and would have been vetoed by Richardson if it had.

[LegendHasIt]

Rail Runner: Go big or go lean?

How about just: GO

AWAY

[UB355]

Wisconsin did and turned down $850 million for its proposed boondoggle.

[Red Badger]

Every HS Rail project in this country has turned into a huge boondoggle. Yet, they keep on promoting them like they are some kind of miracle of technology that will solve every problem, from jobs to transportation costs. If they were financially sound and of profitable outlook, the rail industry would be building them overnight as fast as they could. The government is full of idiots and near-do-wells that think they know better than the people who actually build things and make a profit.....................

[SaraJohnson]

There are so many watermelons in New Mexico...couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.

[MasterGunner01]

Sounds like it’s time to revive the bill.