RailRunner going to cruces... will it soon operate in El Paso? (San Antonio: how much, live in)

[Shmikker]

There are rumors that the Rail Runner Express, the commuter train that runs from Belen north through the rest of the Albuquerque metro and to Santa Fe, are planning to extend to Las Cruces and as far south as Sunland Park. Also Colorado is eying the project and may have plans (with the state of New Mexico) to connect the Metros (Albuquerque//Denver) this has been talked about even before the NMRX project began. If the NMRX goes that far south: Would you use it to go to Las Cruces?
Could El Paso get a deal on the train?
More importantly how much of an impact will it have on el paso?
Would el paso be more isolated if it did not get a deal on the train, if lets say Arizona’s along with Colorado’s cities were all connected by the same train line as New Mexico's?
Basically would it be a good idea and would it be supported if TX Dot was not involved?
Lets be honest Gov. Richardson cares more about EP than Gov. Perry.
(this is all speculation but still its a BIG open door for El Paso)
i personally think it would be great.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Shmikker

There are rumors that the Rail Runner Express, the commuter train that runs from Belen north through the rest of the Albuquerque metro and to Santa Fe, are planning to extend to Las Cruces and as far south as Sunland Park. Also Colorado is eying the project and may have plans (with the state of New Mexico) to connect the Metros (Albuquerque//Denver) this has been talked about even before the NMRX project began. If the NMRX goes that far south: Would you use it to go to Las Cruces?
Could El Paso get a deal on the train?
More importantly how much of an impact will it have on el paso?
Would el paso be more isolated if it did not get a deal on the train, if lets say Arizona’s along with Colorado’s cities were all connected by the same train line as New Mexico's?
Basically would it be a good idea and would it be supported if TX Dot was not involved?
Lets be honest Gov. Richardson cares more about EP than Gov. Perry.
(this is all speculation but still its a BIG open door for El Paso)
i personally think it would be great.

I think it would be terrific, too. Neither TX nor NM has very good public transportation--and I'd use it if it were more available and convenient.

Driving gets to be such a chore sometimes. I wanted to take Amtrak from El Paso (worth the 80 mile drive) to either Austin or San Antonio, and the schedules were so terrible that it takes less time to just go ahead and drive it!

But I don't see the RailRunner coming this far south, not for a very long time.

[mistabinks]

This would be awesome - even if it only extended to Las Cruces. As long as LC provided secure parking, I would use it the train often to take day trips to Albuquerque. El Paso should do everything it can to get in on this.

[Gary Siete]

It would be great for EP and the Rio Grande valley. I can see Sante Fe to Albuquerque generating a profit as it's a busy & short 60 mile route with 8 trains/day. Albuquerque to Las Cruces is 222 miles and Las Cruces to El Paso is 45 miles. I can't see more than a couple of trains/day & they'd have to use existing track to make it cost effective. The Rail Runner cars currently used are designed for commuter runs & don't have facilities for longer routes. I can see it being heavily used by migrants/Mexicans especially if it goes all the way to Denver. I can't believe the number of Denver bound Autobuses Americanos buses I see.

http://www.nmrailrunner.com/

[smguy101]

i know i would use the service to go to El Paso if it ended up going all the way to Denver. It would be a great thing.

[el borracho]

it would be nice if it went up to Denver I looked into taking the train to Denver but amtrak does not have a direct route to Denver ,I would have to go Chicago and take the train to Denver from chicago 30 something hours ,so I drive and take the bus sometimes

[Shmikker]

Well it would be a direct connection to denver for el paso, becouse if you fly from el paso to denver you have to go to phx first then to denver or if you fly frontier you have to get on a tiny plain only 2 of those a day. like el borracho said you have to go to chicago if you take amtrak.
also the train between albuquerque and denver would have to be a very fast one like ICE (france) or Shinkansen (Bullet Trains); Japan
the reason for the ABQ-DEN Train is heavy traffic on i-25 and very high Air traffic
not just big plains but lots and lots of small plains.
the train is cheap too about 8 bucks to go to Santa Fe from Albuquerque
so it may be like 15 or 20 bucks from LC-EP up to ABQ.

[Six Foot Three]

I agree with Cathy4017 that it will probably be a long time if it ever happens as it cost NMDOT 500 million dollars for the 100 mile stretch from Belen to Santa Fe and many NM legislators were up in arms over the cost of that so i imagine the 200 miles stretch from Belen to Sunland Park would be close to 1 Billion dollars and right now NMDOT doesn't have that. Heck they are behind on GRIP projects.

Also something i think will help for el paso and las cruces is that NMDOT will break ground shortly on 3 laning I-10 from las cruces to the Texas state line so once completed that will take some pressure off of driving that interstate between the 2 metro areas.

I wish they had a ''TransTex'' corridor train as that would be so cool to go across the 550 mile Texas desert and not have to drive it and to visit San Antonio and Hill Country or even Balmorhea State park and swim but this is all wishful thinking on my part .

[Smooth from ELP]

Yea this could be a good thing for those that live in Las Cruces and work in El Paso or vice versa. Save big time on gas and wear & tear on your car.

Lets Do IT!!! Andale El Paso!!!

[luplor]

We can sure use the rail system! Dont forget the roads need repairs, too.