SANDIA PUEBLO — Some of the nearly 2,000 employees of this pueblo north of Albuquerque will be able to take a train to work starting Monday, when the commuter train that has zipped through their community since 2008 will stop at their doorstep.

"This is an asset to the pueblo," Sandia Gov. Malcolm Montoya said at a groundbreaking for the station Thursday.

Employees who work at the pueblo's casino and resort, its golf course and for the tribal government live as far away as Moriarity, Montoya said. Many employees live on the north and south ends of the Rio Grande valley and long have wanted to use public transportation.

"I heard employees talking about this two years ago," Montoya said after the news conference.

Once they deboard the train, employees will take a short shuttle ride from the train stop, which is just west of the pueblo, to their workplaces. The train service is also expected to help other north valley businesses, Montoya said.

The $2.7 million station is the 13th on the route from Belen to Santa Fe. It was paid for by former Gov. Bill Richardson's Investment Partnership funds and was built in the same simple style as the other stops, with an overhang for shade and benches underneath. The adjacent parking lot has 75 spaces and is surrounded by cottonwoods.

With the opening of the station comes a new schedule for the commuter train, which is celebrating its fifth year in service.

The new weekday schedule starts Aug. 29. A new weekend schedule begins Sept. 10. The train has a special schedule for Labor Day weekend.

The changes mean one more stop along the way for many trains. And more legs of other trips will be provided by bus instead of by rail.

Under the new weekday schedule, the last train will leave the Santa Fe Depot at 9 p.m. instead of 9:30. The first train will leave the Santa Fe Depot in the morning at 5:49 instead of 6 a.m. The earliest service into Santa Fe on weekday mornings will still be at about 5:30 a.m., but passengers will be on a bus instead of a train.

Riders can leave Santa Fe on their choice of four trains on Saturdays and two on Sundays.

Train officials have reconfigured the schedule in part to accommodate the new stop, but also to address budget woes. At one point earlier this year, officials had voted to eliminate weekend service to save money but later changed their minds.

It remains to be seen whether the new stop will be more popular than the one at Kewa Pueblo.

From late March 2010, when it opened, to July 31 of this year, passengers have boarded the train there more than 34,300 times, primarily on weekdays, records show.

The opening also comes as one group is calling on Gov. Susana Martinez to shut down the train service.

The conservative Rio Grande Foundation says the train is draining the state's budget for the benefit of few riders. It estimates the train's infrastructures costs are more than $843 million.

"Luckily, the Rail Runner is by no means essential to our transportation network and it can be shut down. The sooner our leaders realize this, the better off New Mexico's finances will be," the report concludes.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.


ON THE WEB

See the Rail Runner Express' new schedule at www.nmrailrunner.com. A new weekday schedule starts Aug. 29. A new weekend schedule begins Sept. 10. The train also has a special schedule for Labor Day weekend.