Albuquerque Journal Today
| November 14, 2005 11:04AM |
Monday, November 14, 2005
Train Traveling a Rocky Route
By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
Short on cash and riders, the struggling Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is once again struggling.
The Rio Grande Railway Preservation Corp., which has operated the historic railroad for the past few years, has pulled out.
The move has resulted in layoffs for all but nine machinists, officials with the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Commission said last week. The commission oversees the railroad, which is jointly owned by New Mexico and Colorado.
Steve Malnar, the commission's executive director, estimated that the railroad had employed about 25 people during the off-season. Employees were laid off after the management company decided to leave, but the commission rehired the nine machinists in Chama to perform maintenance on locomotives, he said.
"Chama depends upon those payroll checks," said Commission member Carl Turner. "That's important for the economy of Chama to keep those people working. This is to do normal maintenance."
Turner, one of two New Mexico appointees to the commission, said he believes the Cumbres & Toltec train will run next year.
"We're going to have the engines ready to go," Turner said. "We're going to invest the money to have those engines ready so that the railroad will operate, and I'm sure it will. I'm not sure how we're going to do it, but I have eternal confidence."
Meanwhile, Malnar has given notice that he is leaving as director at the end of November to return to Minnesota. But before he hits the road, Malnar is scrambling to get supplemental appropriations lined up for the railroad.
Whether the train runs next year, Malnar said, will depend on how much money the states opt to contribute.
The commission is asking for a special appropriation of $870,000 to be split between New Mexico and Colorado, Malnar said Wednesday. That funding will be in addition to the $700,000 regular appropriation, which the states are also asked to split.
"I'm cautiously optimistic (the train will run next year)... ," Malnar said. "I think people have approached this fairly positively; they see the railroad is in a bit of a crisis."
The 64-mile, steam-powered, narrow-gauge tourist line operates between Chama and Antonito, Colo., from late May to October. The six-hour train ride crosses the New Mexico/Colorado border 11 times and goes over Cumbres Pass, the highest rail pass in the United States.
Turner said the Chama-based Rio Grande Railway Preservation Corp., the train's operator, notified the commission last month that it was pulling out. He said the nonprofit group gave two reasons for its decision. The first was that the commission hadn't provided the money it had promised to run the railroad. The second was that the commission had not provided the group with liability insurance.
Messages left for RGRPC officials last week were not returned.
Turner said the insurance issue was a glitch that arose when the commission switched over to New Mexico's state risk-management system. It has since been ironed out, he said.
He said the funding shortfall arose in part because Colorado has failed to contribute its share of funding. The compact governing the railroad, he said, requires both states to split the expenses. But, Turner said, since the 2003-04 fiscal year, Colorado has pumped $760,000 into the railroad compared with New Mexico's $2.98 million.
Malnar said that, in addition to not getting enough money from the states, the management company overestimated the number of riders for the season that recently ended. It anticipated 45,000 riders but ended up with only about 33,000, he said. Though ridership was up by about 3,000 from the previous year, the failure to reach the 45,000 projection resulted in a revenue shortfall, Malnar said.
"There was a discussion as to whether the commission wanted to retain the current management company," Malnar said. "The company decided it wanted to terminate the agreement."
He said the likelihood of the commission finding another management company to run the railroad for the upcoming season isn't good.
"Now we're faced with the idea that the commission is going to have to take this over and operate this at least for the 2006 season. There's not much time to go out for RFP (requests for proposals)," Malnar said.
Journal Staff Writer Martin Salazar
...
Train Traveling a Rocky Route
By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
Short on cash and riders, the struggling Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is once again struggling.
The Rio Grande Railway Preservation Corp., which has operated the historic railroad for the past few years, has pulled out.
The move has resulted in layoffs for all but nine machinists, officials with the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Commission said last week. The commission oversees the railroad, which is jointly owned by New Mexico and Colorado.
Steve Malnar, the commission's executive director, estimated that the railroad had employed about 25 people during the off-season. Employees were laid off after the management company decided to leave, but the commission rehired the nine machinists in Chama to perform maintenance on locomotives, he said.
"Chama depends upon those payroll checks," said Commission member Carl Turner. "That's important for the economy of Chama to keep those people working. This is to do normal maintenance."
Turner, one of two New Mexico appointees to the commission, said he believes the Cumbres & Toltec train will run next year.
"We're going to have the engines ready to go," Turner said. "We're going to invest the money to have those engines ready so that the railroad will operate, and I'm sure it will. I'm not sure how we're going to do it, but I have eternal confidence."
Meanwhile, Malnar has given notice that he is leaving as director at the end of November to return to Minnesota. But before he hits the road, Malnar is scrambling to get supplemental appropriations lined up for the railroad.
Whether the train runs next year, Malnar said, will depend on how much money the states opt to contribute.
The commission is asking for a special appropriation of $870,000 to be split between New Mexico and Colorado, Malnar said Wednesday. That funding will be in addition to the $700,000 regular appropriation, which the states are also asked to split.
"I'm cautiously optimistic (the train will run next year)... ," Malnar said. "I think people have approached this fairly positively; they see the railroad is in a bit of a crisis."
The 64-mile, steam-powered, narrow-gauge tourist line operates between Chama and Antonito, Colo., from late May to October. The six-hour train ride crosses the New Mexico/Colorado border 11 times and goes over Cumbres Pass, the highest rail pass in the United States.
Turner said the Chama-based Rio Grande Railway Preservation Corp., the train's operator, notified the commission last month that it was pulling out. He said the nonprofit group gave two reasons for its decision. The first was that the commission hadn't provided the money it had promised to run the railroad. The second was that the commission had not provided the group with liability insurance.
Messages left for RGRPC officials last week were not returned.
Turner said the insurance issue was a glitch that arose when the commission switched over to New Mexico's state risk-management system. It has since been ironed out, he said.
He said the funding shortfall arose in part because Colorado has failed to contribute its share of funding. The compact governing the railroad, he said, requires both states to split the expenses. But, Turner said, since the 2003-04 fiscal year, Colorado has pumped $760,000 into the railroad compared with New Mexico's $2.98 million.
Malnar said that, in addition to not getting enough money from the states, the management company overestimated the number of riders for the season that recently ended. It anticipated 45,000 riders but ended up with only about 33,000, he said. Though ridership was up by about 3,000 from the previous year, the failure to reach the 45,000 projection resulted in a revenue shortfall, Malnar said.
"There was a discussion as to whether the commission wanted to retain the current management company," Malnar said. "The company decided it wanted to terminate the agreement."
He said the likelihood of the commission finding another management company to run the railroad for the upcoming season isn't good.
"Now we're faced with the idea that the commission is going to have to take this over and operate this at least for the 2006 season. There's not much time to go out for RFP (requests for proposals)," Malnar said.
Journal Staff Writer Martin Salazar
...
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roger hogan | November 14, 2005 11:04AM |
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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