By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
A large crowd gathered Saturday morning at the Raton train depot awaiting the arrival of the Joe Boardman CEO of Amtrak who travel to New Mexico to garner support for Amtrak track maintenance.
Many of the crowd greeted the Amtrak Special Train with signs stating “Save our City Don’t Take our Southwest Chief its our Lifeblood.” Raton is here today because of the railroad. It grew up with the railroad as stop for water and coal to run the train. Today the rail through Raton is only used by Amtrak as BNSF no longer runs freight trains through Raton. This is where the issue begins, since BNSF no longer uses the rail they are not interested in maintaining the line that runs from Albuquerque to Newton, Kansas.
While Amtrak is funded by the federal government they have used track that are maintained by other railroad companies. This stretch of line is need of repairs and BNSF doesn’t want to pay the costs alone and is seeking the help of the states of Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico.
As Senator Martin Heinrich indicated in these economic times we need to form alliances to fund things like this. New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez feels that the way New Mexico statutes are written that state wouldn’t be able to do this. Once again this thinking comes down to a matter of opinion based on the way the anti-donation statutes are written. According to Joe Boardman Kansas and Colorado are on board with helping Amtrak maintain the line. Will New Mexico come on board? Stay Tuned.
The Following is from Mark Bentley’s Blogspot about the SW Chief
COULD NORTHERN NEW MEXICO LOSE THE SOUTHWEST CHIEF BECAUSE OF NO “FORMAL INVITATION?”
So, if that is the case, why not do everything possible to not only grow businesses, but save those which currently exist?
There is some question about whether the Southwest Chief railroad train that runs through Raton, Las Vegas and Albuquerque will continue doing so, and that would be tragic.
A year or so ago, Amtrak, the quasi-government, quasi-private company that operates the nation’s passenger trains told officials in New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas they needed the states to participate in keeping the track and signals up to snuff. It would cost each state about $4 million a year for 10 years. $40 million total.
The issue was raised during the last Legislative session but didn’t go anywhere, and there have not been any strong signals from the governor that she would support paying out the money.
Some say that the demands by Amtrak amount to nothing more than blackmail. The company says they will have to re-route the train if they cannot get the help to maintain the tracks and signals. Colorado and Kansas have anted up.
Well, last week, the CEO of Amtrak, Joe Beardman, boarded a special train to make a tour of the three states and plead his case. He stopped in Kansas. He stopped in Colorado and met in both states with officials about the need.
When it came to New Mexico, though, the governor’s staff said no one from the state would meet with him because they didn’t get a formal invitation. A formal invitation? They were kidding, right?
Nope. No one from the administration met Beardman, so he was stuck with Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry on Sunday morning.
Why would losing the Southwest Chief be such a big deal?
First, something like 350,000 people take the Southwest Chief every year, it employs about 350 people in the state and has a long, long history here.
It also generates about $70 million a year in revenue for businesses and the state.
Why, for the tune of $4 million would New Mexico risk losing the route through Raton and Las Vegas, both of which are seriously challenged economically, and then Albuquerque which isn’t in such great shakes itself?
The Valencia County Commission says they would like to see the historic route changed and instead of it running south through the state to Albuquerque, run it from Amarillo through Clovis and then to Belen before it continues west to California. That would bypass Albuquerque entirely.
In the same breath, Valencia County Manager Jeff Condrey told KRQE TV “This is a federal government problem. It isn’t a state problem and this route shouldn’t be subsidized by the state taxpayers.”
While it may be true that it is a federal government problem, which is really our money already, the impact of losing the route would be a heavy hit.
Maybe the state wouldn’t lose much if it took the more southern route, but it would have a serious effect on Raton, Las Vegas and Albuquerque. Remember, they are really in the financial doldrums.
Beardman says he would really like to see New Mexico pony up some money this fall for repairs. But, since the Legislature doesn’t meet again until next year, he shouldn’t hold his breath.
Regardless of who occupies the fourth floor of the Roundhouse next year, this is an issue that shouldn’t be put on the back burner. $4 million is a lot of money, but in the scheme of trying to hold and even better the economy, it really isn’t much.
And, why does it require a formal invitation for high state officials to meet with a corporate executive who is trying to keep employees in the state.
Would the governor and others require a formal invitation for the CEO of Intel? Or Elon Musk from Tesla? We doubt it.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let me know atmark.bentley76@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading!
© All rights reserved
Mark Bentley has been covering New Mexico politics for more than 25 years and in addition to this blog, airs a radio version “Dateline New Mexico” on numerous stations around the state.
You can hear other programs from Mark Bentley at his website CowboyReporter.com.
Meeting and chatting with Sec. Church proved frustrating. His pat answer was, “it is not the Governor’s fault.” This is a specious answer. Making the question of Raton’s future an ideological football gives me no solace. The central NM route will hurt citizens of NE New Mexico. Leaving the route as it is will not hurt central NM citizens. The gathering on Saturday was a grand display, however, all of us need to drive our point home by contacting Representative Roch and the Secretary; please tell them to not make us “pawns in their game!”
I was fortunate to be able to introduce myself to Mr. Boardman, and while I had a firm grasp of his hand, I said in no uncertain terms, “We NEED this train!”