Saturday, July 9, 2005

Commuter train is for real

Haley Wachdorf News-Bulletin Staff Writer; hwachdorf@news-bulletin.com

Belen Seeing is believing.

That's what Belen Mayor Ronnie Torres and a group of leaders from other New Mexico communities learned during a June trip to Canada to view the first car for the commuter rail scheduled to make its first trip from Belen to Bernalillo in December.

The cars are being specially made at a factory in Canada and feature the red-and-yellow roadrunner design chosen to give New Mexico's train a local flavor. Torres said he has heard a lot of people say that they don't believe there will ever really be a commuter rail stop in Belen, but he has the photos to prove it does exist.

Click to enlarge

"There is such a thing," he said. "It's amazing how many people think 'Oh, that's a nice idea, but I doubt it will ever happen.' In fact, I've even shown people pictures of it and they say 'Oh, this is beautiful, but we'd never be able to have anything like that.' And I say 'No, this is already ours.'"

Torres said he was amazed by how well appointed the double-decker car was, with beautiful red upholstery and tables for commuters who want to work or eat while they travel. There are even restrooms on board. But what really sets New Mexico's cars apart is the bold red-and-yellow roadrunner painted down the side.

"The plant where they are making them had several cars that they are working on for other places, and ours is by far the coolest looking one," he said. "The others looks like a commuter rail, with plain lines and plain colors, and ours just looks so much better and taller because of the design."

The 10 cars that will be built for the Rail Runner will travel to New Mexico one at a time so that, if the train carrying them is involved in any kind of accident, all the cars are not damaged. In spite of some delays on the project, state officials remain hopeful that it will make its first voyage in December. Torres hopes it might be able to take place in conjunction with some of Belen's Christmas festivities. Until then, Torres plans to keep trying to convince Belen that the train is real.

"It's so exciting," he said. "I knew it was happening but, even in government nowadays, until you actually see it, you think, 'Well, what if it doesn't actually happen and someone pulls the rug out from under us?' But it's real. I want a poster of it to put in the Harvey House because this is a part of history for Belen."

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