Snakes on a plain: Rail Runner officials say wavy tracks aren't finished

Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican

8/19/2008 - 8/20/08

Some of the railroad tracks under construction in the Santa Fe area are drawing double takes from passers-by because of wiggles and bumps that make the new transit system look like a roller coaster.

Planners for the New Mexico Rail Runner Express say, however, that onlookers shouldn't worry.

"We've gotten a ton of e-mail about this, and what people are seeing is an unfinished product," said Chris Blewett, a project manager with the Mid-Region Council of Governments, on contract with the state to oversee the train.

"There is a whole bunch of rail out there in the median of Interstate 25 that looks like spaghetti. There's a reason for that: It is not done yet," he said.

Trains have been running in the Albuquerque area for more than two years, but the state decided to build new tracks part of the way between Santa Fe and Albuquerque to begin service here by the end of the year.

Work is about 35 percent completed on the new tracks, which stretch through Waldo Canyon and past the rest area at the top of La Bajada before jumping into the interstate median. At the Santa Fe city limits, the state is rebuilding track that already crossed the urban area.

Construction crews have graded the rail bed for the new sections of track and laid initial ballast, a crushed rock that stabilizes the ties. Next, Blewett said, they put down a series of concrete ties and snap steel rails onto hardware set into the ties. Finally, they scatter another layer of ballast, then tamp down the whole structure and complete a process called "de-stressing."

The difference between finished and unfinished is visible, he said, by looking at the tracks that have been completed just south of a new tunnel near St. Francis Drive and Interstate 25. "That section has already been tamped and de-stressed. It's straight as an arrow, and it looks like real railroad," said Blewett.

Area residents who contacted the department and the newspaper about the appearance of the tracks have been colorful in their commentary. "We all need to know what kind of Toonerville Trolley we are going to get for the enormous bill we are paying," wrote one man.

"It may have been an optical illusion, but the track seemed to dip and rise," wrote another.

Twin Mountain Construction and Herzog Companies, which are on contract to design and build the infrastructure, broke ground on the Santa Fe leg of construction in September 2007.

About two months ago, Twin Mountain starting using the name of its parent company Kiewit, New Mexico. Including construction and acquisition of rolling stock and land, the state's budget to implement the train along the entire corridor is about $400 million, and officials estimate operating costs for the service at about $21 million per year.

For more information about proposed train schedules, fares and other details, log on to www.nmrailrunner.com.

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