Amtrak route in jeopardy in NM, other states

New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas communities face the potential loss of passenger rail service if Amtrak fails to reach a new agreement by 2016 for maintaining and upgrading portions of the Southwest Chief route through those states, the rail operator said Tuesday. Ray Lang, Amtrak's state government relations chief, proposed to a New Mexico legislative committee that Amtrak split the costs of maintenance and capital improvements for more than 600 miles of track with the states and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the line but uses only a portion of it for hauling freight. He asked lawmakers to consider a cost-sharing arrangement in which each of the states would spend about $4 million annually for a decade to keep Amtrak's Southwest Chief line on its current route. He suggested that Amtrak and BNSF could cover similar amounts, about $40 million over 10 years, but he acknowledged that BNSF has made no commitment. Lang said Amtrak had approached transportation officials in each of the states months ago, and they encouraged the rail operator to seek federal money. Amtrak's operating agreement with BNSF expires in January 2016. Lang said BNSF doesn't want to upgrade sections of the track used by its slower-moving freight trains to meet the higher speed requirements for Amtrak's passenger trains. Amtrak can't afford to foot the full cost itself, and it's unlikely Congress will provide the extra money, he said. The Southwest Chief route travels between Chicago and Los Angeles, but the portion of the route that's jeopardized runs from the central Kansas community of Newton to Albuquerque in New Mexico. If no track maintenance deal is reached, Lang said, Amtrak will have to consider changing the Southwest Chief to a more southern route using another BNSF line — going through Wichita in Kansas through Amarillo in Texas and then to Belen in New Mexico. It's possible that Amtrak could continue serving Albuquerque, he said, but Raton, Las Vegas and Lamy, which is near Santa Fe, would lose service...more

The amount of track in the U.S. peaked in 1916 at 254,251 miles. Current figures are 140,695 miles.  The private rail industry responded to consumer preferences based on...the invention of the car.