HUTCHINSON, Kan. — More efforts to preserve Amtrak's Southwest Chief have been successful.
Amtrak announced Wednesday that the Federal Railroad Administration will provide a $5.6 million Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant to stabilize and rehabilitate the route of the Chief in Colorado and New Mexico. Combined with $4.9 million in Amtrak federal funds set aside for this service and $1 million from the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT), a total of $11.5 million will be invested from Trinidad, Colorado, to the south of Lamy, New Mexico.
Project engineering and construction will be carried out by the BNSF Railway Engineering Department and NMDOT will handle the part of the right-of-way it owns. Work is expected to begin in 2021 and carry into 2022.
New ties will be installed on a 31-mile section south of Raton Pass and another six-mile segment in New Mexico, more than 12 miles of bolted rail will be converted to welded rail between Lamy and where Rio Metro’s Rail Runner commuter traffic diverges to Santa Fe, and the decks of two bridges will be rebuilt, along with three grade crossings.
Efforts to secure grants started when Amtrak hinted it could move the Chief off its current route. Cities along the route and BNSF were against it although the railroad admitted it really didn’t want to keep a line open for one passenger train.
The work comes as Amtrak is preparing to reduce service on the Chief to three days per week because of a drop in ridership connected to the pandemic. Amtrak has assured daily service will return in the summer.