By Lawrence Rael
Executive Director, Mid Region Council of Governments
The Journal has compared the Rail Runner project to the Utah Transit Authority Commuter Rail project. An objective, apples-to-apples comparison between the two systems provides a clear picture of the superior cost effectiveness of the New Mexico Rail Runner system.
In September 2004, a report was presented to the Legislative Finance Committee that estimated the cost for Phase I (Belen to Bernalillo) at $75 million. The report notes that this estimate was based on the state leasing the line from the BNSF, not an outright purchase of the track. The report also estimated the cost of Phase II to be between $200 million and $250 million. These estimates were derived from previous studies of the corridor.
Today, Phase I is slated to come in at the $75 million and the capital costs for Phase II are still expected to be about $250 million. The project has held to its original budget despite the rising costs of construction. When the cost of the track purchase is added on, the total project cost is $400 million for about 100 miles of commuter rail service.
In 1997 the UTA kicked off its rail project with a "feasibility study" of the desired 90-mile system between Provo and Ogden. The feasibility study, which concluded in 1998, recommended that UTA should pursue a commuter rail project between the two cities. The estimated cost at the time was about $162 million. Like New Mexico, these estimates were for capital costs and did not include the purchase of railroad track or rights of way.
UTA started negotiations with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1997 and signed a deal in 2002 that resulted in the purchase of a 25-foot-wide strip of right of way along 115 miles of the main UP track and 60 miles of actual track. UTA paid $185 million for the 175-mile-long corridor of track and rights-of-way. In 2002 UTA started the Federal Transit Administration required environmental process for their 44-mile first phase (Salt lake City to Ogden) and concluded the work in the fall of 2006. The cost for the first 44 miles is $611 million. The Federal Transit Administration will cover 80 percent of the cost ($489 million) in a series of payments that extend out to the year 2012. The first phase is anticipated to open in the spring of 2008, 11 years after the project was initiated. For this first phase the cost estimate increased from $408 million in 2005 to $611 million in 2007 due to construction related price escalations and Federal Transit Administration requirements.
Like New Mexico, UTA is also in the process of implementing a second phase. They have decided not to use federal funds because of the lengthy and expensive lessons they learned in Phase I. Ironically, this decision was in part influenced by what we accomplished here in New Mexico. Their 45 mile extension between Salt Lake City and Provo is estimated to cost $836 million. It is scheduled to open for service in 2014, six years from now.
At the end of the day, New Mexico will pay $400 million for 100 miles of rail service and 270 miles of railroad. The entire project will have been completed within five years.
In comparison, UTA will also end up with about 100 miles of rail service, and 175 miles of railroad rights of way. UTA's cost is now at $1.6 billion ($611 million Phase I, $836 million Phase II, $185 million track/rights of way purchase) of which $489 million will be paid federally. This is a 1000 percent increase over the estimates provided in 1998. The project will take 17 years to complete when all is said and done.
Additionally, the Journal's concern that the project was slipped into a "$1.6 billion road improvement package" inaccurately implies that the Department of Transportation should not invest in transportation alternatives. Clearly, roads will always be a very important part of the transportation system in New Mexico, but this region is now suffering from the downside of decades of investments in this single mode of travel.
New Mexicans deserve improved access to public transportation to mitigate the crushing weight of rising gas prices and concerns about traffic congestion, global warming and air quality.
Finally, the cost of the 100 miles of rail service constitutes about 1 percent of the present day value of the cost to build the Department of Transportation's current roadway system in New Mexico.
The state may well get to the point where it will be necessary to spend a dollar on public transportation for every two dollars it spends on roads in the urbanized portions of the state. One dollar out of a hundred, is a step in the right direction.
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