Care to comment??
As a State Representative back in 2003 I can testify that there was no plan on how to make this work. In fact no cost/benefit had been conducted, no feasibility study had been done and Richardson’s Secretary of Transportation at the time had no idea on the estimated ridership. I know this for the Secretary’s testimony in the House Appropriations Committee and her statement’s made on the House floor. The legislation for the train was buried in what is known as the Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership (GRIP) which was primarily supposed to have focused on road improvements throughout the state. The legislation for the train was so deeply buried in the bill the Senate never noticed it and had no debate on the issue. GRIP was actually passed in a special secession in Oct of 2003 not during the regular secession.
I would add to CedarDave’s comment that not only did it have to pass a cost/benefit test Richardson also approached US Senators Bingaman and Domenici who both told him that federal grant that they wanted to get the money from was highly completive and saw no way that the state would be successful. In addition to enhancing his “green” environmentalist resume this was also a political payoff to BNSF for campaign contributions.
Where the hell is the Choo-Choo genius Willie Green when you need his expert opinion.