The messengers from Amtrak came to Raton on Tuesday, August 21st for a face-to-face meeting with Southwest Chief stakeholders and the message remained the same. The SW Chief route from Lamy, NM to Dodge City Kansas is in danger of being derailed. Colfax County Commissioner Bill Sauble said that Amtrak came with two options. Option A to fund the necessary repairs and upgrades to keep the trains running, or Option B which would bus passengers from Lamy to Dodge City. Sauble also said that Amtrak agreed to continue talks in the future, but no date has been set.
One of the sticking points appears to be the Positive Train Control issue. If it is not installed and ready to go by December 31, the National Rail Passenger Corporation Board (Amtrak) has said that even though the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) has exempted the SW Chief portion of the federally mandated December 31, deadline, the board has decided to require it.
The meeting was held at the International room of International Bank and the Amtrak held firm to their contention that the SW Chief’s losing $50 million dollars a year was another reason to kill the Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico part of the route. Compounding the problem is the fact that virtually no freight is run on the rails, so BNSF has declined to maintain the rails and the $3 million annual price tag for maintenance, is thought to be one of the reasons Amtrak has declined to honor its commitment as its part of the Tiger IX grant. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (Tiger) grant in the amount of $16 million was awarded to Colfax County in March of 2018. The Amtrak reps told the meeting that they are withholding the $3 million commitment to go along with the Tiger IX grant with conditions. Those conditions include an acceptable financial plan being put in place and that would include guaranteeing the estimated $3 million in maintenance per year. Several years ago, Amtrak had told SW Chief stakeholders that something needed to be done for upgrades and repair on the rails estimated to cost some $100 million. The Colfax County Tiger Grant was the third Tiger grant awarded to SW Chief entities and the grant made the total commitment near $71 million of the $100 million that Amtrak said was needed. The Colfax County Tiger Grant will not lapse till September of 2020.
The meeting came just days after the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan amendment to provide an additional $50 million in federal funding to help maintain Amtrak train services along the established, long-distance passenger rail route of the Southwest Chief.
It was thought that the amendment would effectively halt Amtrak’s proposal to substitute rail service with bus service over large segments of the route through FY2019. The amendment was sponsored by U.S. Senator Tom Udall (NM) and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kansas) and cosponsored by Martin Heinrich and U.S. Senators Pat Roberts (Kan.), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Michael F. Bennet (Colo.), all senators who represent states through which the critical Southwest Chief route runs.
The amendment was included in the 2019 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill that passed on a 92 to 6 vote. This amendment would provide resources for maintenance and safety improvements along the Southwest Chief route and would compel Amtrak to fulfill its promise of matching funding for the successful TIGER IX discretionary grant supported by local communities in New Mexico along the route. The amendment builds upon an ealier Senate passage of a bipartisan amendment emphasizing Congress’s strong support for Amtrak long-distance routes, which was adopted by a vote of 95 to 4.
