The beginning of commuter train service between Santa Fe and metropolitan Albuquerque is promised for this month. Just exactly which day, however, is a question that officials are slow to answer.

"We'd like to put a date out there, but we've got to get all our ducks in a row first," Augusta Meyers, communications manger for the Mid-Region Council of Governments, said Monday. "There is no official start date at this point, just a tentative, 'We're shooting for mid-December.' "

The council of governments is on contract to plan the Rail Runner Express train for the state Department of Transportation. Over the weekend, the Albuquerque Journal reported service would begin Dec. 17, and a public-relations firm employed by another state agency told The New Mexican that service would start Dec. 13.

Meyers said that information was not accurate.

"More than a few eyebrows" were raised by rumors that a starting date had been announced, Meyers said Monday, noting that several things still need to happen before a service date can be official. Test runs, engineer certification and signal evaluations are ongoing in the Santa Fe area.

The transit director for the city of Santa Fe said Monday afternoon that he also is still waiting for information about when the city was expected to have its Santa Fe Trails buses meet trains.

"I don't know what the deal is," said Jon Bulthuis, city transit director. "We need to know when that date is going to be because we have union staff who have bidding (on work shifts)."

The state has already given the city money to expand its bus service to better serve train commuters. When the trains begin, the city will swing its No. 2 and No. 4 bus routes by the train station at the Transportation Department headquarters south of Cordova Road.

City spokeswoman Laura Banish said city officials were invited to participate in a ceremonial inaugural train ride Dec. 12, but she had no information about when commuter service would begin for the general public.

A Saturday announcement about a public train event Dec. 13 at the Railyard sent out by Ballentines PR — a public-relations firm hired by the New Mexico Department of Tourism — was "a bit premature," according to Meyers, who said no such event is confirmed. Rachel Mason with Ballentines said late Monday that there had been "some miscommunication."

The Rail Runner Express began serving the Albuquerque, Bernalillo and Belen areas in 2006. The $400 million project was funded with state money and will be operated partially by tax dollars collected in the counties it serves.

For more information about proposed fares and schedules, you can log on to www.nmrailrunner.com.

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