A look at New Mexico’s rail plans: is an extension of the Rail Runner in the cards?

KOB TV recently covered New Mexico’s plans for rail over the next 20 years. Along with that plan, Colorado’s Gov. Jared Polis announced a new “front range” passenger rail system that will connect Denver as far south as Trinidad.

So, the question is: What is New Mexico planning to do and how much is it going to cost? After all, far left Democrat Sen. Bill Soules has been pushing for high speed rail from Denver to Mexico (crossing NM North to South). This despite the fact that New Mexico’s current passenger rail system (the Railrunner) has seen ridership collapse and emits more CO2 than driving a car.

The good news is that New Mexico has no plans to join Colorado’s passenger rail plans. Also, the Rail Runner is not being considered for expansion though a Las Cruces/El Paso passenger line is at least discussed. That would certainly not be cheap but it is a long way from serious planning.

Perhaps more exciting and interesting is the plans for freight rail. Currently plans for (separate) rail spurs to San Juan and Lea counties are being considered as well as for the Santa Teresa border crossing. Those are all reasonable ways to build New Mexico’s transportation network. A spur to Spaceport America seems a bit wild considering the lack of action at that facility from the largest tenant Virgin Galactic.

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