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Loss of Southwest Chief would be blow to seniors

Read More: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/loc...traksidebar-hh

Amtrak could stop serving passengers traveling from Newton, Kan., to Albuquerque if New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas can’t help the financially strapped railroad company come up with funding to repair the track. That would cut the only passenger rail service through the New Mexico towns of Raton, Las Vegas and Lamy (which has access to Santa Fe).

- Rerouting the train would make it tough on older passengers like June King of Las Vegas, N.M., who has used the train to travel between Las Vegas and Kansas City, Mo. Greyhound no longer stops in her city, and the Las Vegas Municipal Airport is small and has no commercial airlines. That leaves the train for public transportation. “A train has gone through Las Vegas for 100 years,” she said. “To now not have a train from Kansas City to Albuquerque would be awful. It is a wonderful way to travel. You can get up and walk around, not like on a bus or an airplane. And the seats have leg room. You can really stretch out.”

- More than 122,000 New Mexicans and 12,000 Santa Fe passengers take the Southwest Chief line through New Mexico each year, with a Lamy stop-off. Amtrak said 69 percent of the passengers on the line this year alone have been older than 55 years of age. The train is an important mode of transportation for middle-aged and elderly people, said Beth Velasquez, interim director of AARP New Mexico. “AARP nationally is supporting continued funding for Amtrak. AARP has always been a strong supporter of public transportation,” she said. “A lot of people use the train to connect with more rural communities. We look at it as a vital part of public transportation.”

- Amtrak has told New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas that it needs $100 million in the next 10 years to repair the track and maintain it to passenger train standards. Department of Transportation officials in the three states told Amtrak in July that as much as they appreciate the passenger train, they don’t have the money to help. Congress is in the midst of debating the national passenger train’s fate. For years, some congressmen have pushed to privatize the company, which receives millions in taxpayer funds every year. (Amtrak receives about $1.6 billion a year compared to $43 billion for highways and $16 billion for airports.) New Mexico’s delegates advocate continued federal funding for Amtrak.

- Amtrak said the states have until the end of 2014 to make a decision about funding. Without the funding, Amtrak would look to reroute the Southwest Chief by 2016. “We don’t want to do that. We want to continue to serve Albuquerque on the route we are using now,” said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak media relations manager. “We are looking at options.” If the reroute does happen, Amtrak would continue to serve the Albuquerque area through a Southern New Mexico route, Magliari said. But north-central and northeastern New Mexico, along with southern Colorado and western Kansas, could lose their only passenger train route. Santa Fe city councilors and Santa Fe County commissioners have approved resolutions supporting a continued Amtrak line through Lamy.

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