Re: Any incentive to re-lay NG, Antonito to Alamos

I know one of the people who bid when Kyle left. At the time, he was a co-owner of several shortlines (I had worked for him) and had been a VP Operations of a Class 1. I also knew the person he was using for his mechanical survey. His comments as I remember were:
The track needed a lot of work (ties and surface); this would save most of the wear and tear on the running gear.
He actually stated that laying the third rail back to Alamosa could be an advantage. He felt that there would be the potetial for more passengers due to Alamosa's size and existing tourist traffic. Of course, this would affect Antonito's current tourist traffic.
The biggest drawback to having the contract in his mind was the politics of having two states as owners. Whatever you did on the New Mexico side, you had to do the same on the Colorado side. He felt that a second train might be justified from Chama, but not from Antonito.
The biggest challenge to CATS (and others in the same position) is to properly balance good business decisions and historical responsibility while pleasing any supporting political entity. The politicians often consider the whole thing as not much more than an economic development project to create local jobs (and get them reelected).
Didn't I see a post stating that Tim Tennant is now their Executive Director? The name sounds familiar, didn't he have a shortline (that failed) in Minnesota a few years ago?