Groundbreaking on the next New Mexico Rail Runner Express train station is planned for today at Santo Domingo Pueblo, and state officials say federal stimulus money is making it happen.

It's the second time in recent months that an unexpected infusion of cash from the nonrecurring source has gone into the Rail Runner project.

Trains began operating regularly on Sundays this month after a surprise announcement from Gov. Bill Richardson in August. The $647,000 needed to run two trains per day, every Sunday through June 2010, came from "stimulus funding" through the state Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, said Mark Slimp, spokesman for the Department of Transportation, the state agency that oversees the train.

The Santo Domingo train platform and an adjacent parking lot for about 45 cars are expected to cost another $2.1 million, allocated to the state through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Located across the tracks from the historic trading post at Domingo Junction, the station will be constructed by Kiewit New Mexico, the same contractor that has done all the design/build work for the Rail Runner Express project.

Construction is expected to last three to four months depending on weather, with trains stopping there no sooner than the first of the year, said project manager Chris Blewitt, who works for the Mid-Region Council of Governments on contract with the state.

Blewitt said that although the parking lot and station are on land controlled by the pueblo, they are open to anyone who wants to ride the train.

Groundbreaking is also slated to happen later this week at Sandia Pueblo, where a station that was including in the project's original $400 million budget is finally getting under way.

Blewitt said the addition of two more stops along the route between Santa Fe and Albuquerque will mean a major schedule revision to keep travel times competitive.

Instead of every train stopping at nearly every station, as is the current schedule, some Rail Runner trains will become "express" trains and stop fewer times between the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas.

The capital investment for Rail Runner trains and stations that have been built to date came largely from bonds issued through the state. A fraction of the system's early operating money came from the federal government, but now operations are funded through a combination of state money, revenue from freight on a portion of state-owned tracks and fares collected from Rail Runner passengers.

Next month, the state is expected to make the first distribution of a new gross-receipts tax collected for transit in counties the train serves. Much of that money is earmarked to support train operations.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.