An Editorial From The Santa Fe New Mexican; July 6, 2018
Keeping Amtrak train service open and running through Northern New Mexico should be a goal that unites politicians, business leaders local elected officials of all stripes. Yet in the past few years, as one threat after another has emerged to rail service in parts of New Mexico, our leaders have not presented a united front.
Leaders from the small towns of the north — Las Vegas, N.M., Springer and Raton — have lobbied hard for upgrading tracks, more federal and state dollars and most of all, continued service. Legislators in neighboring states, Kansas and Colorado, have done their share. Our Congressional delegation, for the most part, has backed train service, as have New Mexico state legislators. Absent, for the most part, is Gov. Susana Martinez, who seems to miss entirely the importance of passenger rail to New Mexico’s tourism mystique as well as to the economic well-being of our rural northern towns.
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