The New Mexico Rail Runner, Serving Albuquerque and Santa Fe

The New Mexico Rail Runner commuter railroad system is a very new operation having just been inaugurated in July of 2006. However, the service has far exceeded its expectations and in late June of 2008 celebrated its one-millionth rider! Today, the Rail Runner system connects Albuquerque (the largest city in New Mexico) with the cities of Belen to the south and Sandoval County/US 550 to the north. Eventual plans will have the system connecting Albuquerque and Santa Fe, which is projected to double daily ridership from around 1,400 to nearly 3,000. All in all the New Mexico Rail Runner service has more than exceeded expectations and plans are already in the works for future extensions and upgrades.

The Rail Runner system dates as far back as 2003 when governor Bill Richardson finally proposed to begin a commuter railroad operation that would one day serve New Mexico’s two largest cities, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The service, which was dubbed Rail Runner in honor of the state bird the roadrunner, became reality in 2005 and plans to build stations and operate over BNSF Railway trackage began taking shape. - From a historical perspective the tracks which the commute railroad operates over were originally built and owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (distinctively known as the Santa Fe), which is likely not only this country’s but also the world’s most recognized and famous railroad.

The AT&SF has had its own movie, song, and numerous model trains and other purchasable gifts created in its honor. The railroad’s renowned Warbonnet livery has been made in several variations ranging from the more popular silver and red with yellow trim to the blue and yellow. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, albeit no longer an operating company (now part of BNSF Railway), is truly a railroad whose name is as common as that of Coca Cola or General Electric. - In any event, after one year everything was in place and the summer of 2006 saw the service’s inaugural train launched.

For the first few months riding Rail Runner was free of charge to gauge interest and opinions by the general public, and it quickly became apparent that the trains were well liked. For instance, two unique features to the service include the classic Looney Tunes roadrunner “beep beep,” which is heard when passenger car doors are closing and a livery that features the roadrunner itself running down the length of the train. At its peak the free service saw over 6,000 daily riders and although ridership has fallen since fares went into place interest for the trains is still above projections.

After fares were introduced the New Mexico Rail Runner service was broken down into three zones with the cost to ride the trains dependent on how many of those zones you would be traveling through. For instance, traveling through only within one zone costs $1, while traveling through two zones costs $2, and then over all three zones $3. More information about each zone is below:

· Sandoval Zone: Serving Sandoval County/US 550 and downtown Bernalillo.

· Bernalillo Zone: Serving Los Ranchos, Albuquerque, and International Sunport/Bernalillo County with future stations at Sandia Pueblo and Isleta Pueblo.

· Valencia Zone: Serving Los Lunas (opened in December of 2006) and Belen (the extension to Belen was opened in the winter of 2007).

The future of the Rail Runner service looks very bright with the extensions to Santa Fe planned and the addition of seven more stations to complement the other six, bringing the total to thirteen railroad stations served along the route. According to the agency the extension to Santa Fe entails, “phase II track using three different portions of track. The first extends from Bernalillo to a point a couple of miles east of I-25 at the base of La Bajada Hill. Traveling north, the route includes newly constructed rail up La Bajada Hill in the vicinity of Waldo Canyon. The new track will enter the I-25 median near the rest area at the top of La Bajada Hill and continue north to near St. Francis Road. From this point the route uses the Santa Fe Southern Railroad alignment until its northern terminus at the Santa Fe Railyards. While existing track and alignment will be used for portions of the corridor, some will be replaced or refurbished.” If you would like to learn more about the New Mexico Rail Runner and its projected future plans or are perhaps considering using the system please click here to visit their website.