Commuter train doing qualifying runs this week.

That sleek silver, red and yellow locomotive you see streaking through Albuquerque and points south this week pulling passenger cars without passengers isn't a ghost train.

It's the New Mexico Rail Runner Express making test runs between Albuquerque and Belen, aimed at qualifying engineers and conductors to meet federal requirements for passenger service, according to a story by The Associated Press on broadcast Web sites.

Augusta Meyers, spokeswoman for the Mid-Region Council of Governments, told the AP that 12 engineers and conductors will be making qualifying runs each day of the tests. The tests will be run over the next several weeks, Meyers said in a news release.

Actual passenger service is expected to start in late May or early June with the exact starting date to be announced in the next few weeks, according to this story last week in the Albuquerque Journal. According to Meyers' news release, once passenger service begins there will be 14 to 16 Rail Runner trains a day running between Albuquerque and Bernalillo, with service south to Belen to follow soon.

On Friday, the state completed its $50 million purchase of 51 miles of track between Belen and Bernalillo from the BNSF Railway after Attorney General Patricia Madrid late last month gave conditional approval to a deal that will ultimately give the state about 300 miles of track between Belen and the Colorado state line for a total of $75 million, the Journal reported.

The whole project is expected to cost $393 million with full service between Belen, Albuquerque and Bernalillo  for the first phase and service to Santa Fe by the end of 2008, according to the Journal.

In the meantime, you can check out a draft schedule, a map of station stops, projected ticket prices and other information on the commuter service's new Web site.

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