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Some passengers find Rail Runner express a good place to make friends
Photo by Craig FritzTribune
Tribune
Mary Benedict (center) swaps stories with Terry Jaramillo (right) while riding the Rail Runner Express from Los Ranchos to Los Lunas as part of their daily commute. They met and became friends on the train.
Photo by Craig FritzTribune
Tribune
Chris Chavez (right) makes the rounds shaking hands with Michael Chase (left) as well as fellow Rail Runner passengers Chris Terrazas (center) and Pat Rogers (second from right). All have met and become friends because of their daily commute together on the Rail Runner.
By the numbers
Total cost to build the Railrunner: $400 million, paid for by bonds from Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership. No federal money.
Annual cost to operate from Belen to Bernalillo: $10 million. All federal money.
Average daily ridership from Belen to Bernalillo: Between 2,200 and 2,500.
Annual operating cost from Belen to Santa Fe: Between $16 and $20 million.
The state is looking at its options for funding that part of the Railrunner service, said Department of Transportation spokesman S.U. Mahesh.
"After 2009, we need operations cost from Belen to Santa Fe," he said. "We're working on identifying sources."
That service is slated to start in late 2008.
Most recent federal appropriation for the project: $1.08 million earmarked this week by Sen. Jeff Bingaman for intermodal stations that will serve the commuter rail.
Source: State Department of Transportation and U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman's office.
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Michael Chase was tired of his daily 88-mile round-trip commute from Belen to the Journal Center in Albuquerque.
He was so stressed about the drive that he wrote e-mails to officials about road conditions.
It took him a long time to wind down from the rage built up during the drive home.
But now, as soon as he steps off the Rail Runner Express commuter train, Chase seems relaxed — ready to spend the rest of the night with his family and excited to get up the next morning to meet the friends he's made on the train.
"Getting to know all these people has really made the trip wonderful," said Chase, who works for an insurance company. "I wouldn't trade the experience in for anything."
Every working day on the top deck of the train's first car, a group of friends — train friends — gathers. They trade recipes, chat and perhaps celebrate a birthday.
Chris Terrazas, a Carquest Auto Parts employee, said he got to know Chase, Hodges and other commuters because they were all regulars on the upper deck of the first car.
"I think we're creatures of habit," Terrazas said. "That's where I started riding the first day, and I've been there ever since. People have just migrated up there, and that's how I've made friends."
Since then, Terrazas has made a habit of inviting Chase and his other Rail Runner companions to get off the train with him at the Downtown station for a drink and a bite to eat before catching the next train home.
"There have been times that we've called in a pizza at NYPD Pizza, and they would deliver it to us over at the Chama River Brewing Co., and we'd have beer and pizza and get back on the train," he said.
The Rail Runner made its debut in 2006. When it first started offering its services the ridership was between 1,500 to 1,800 a day. Now the ridership has grown to 2,200 to 2,500 a day.
There have been occasional difficulties, including making connections with city buses, said Lena Hodges, a New Mexico Mutual employee.
Hodges said those initial transit problems compelled her to build relationships with Chase and other commuters.
"We'd get off at the same bus stop and have the same problem with the same buses," she said. "And that's how we got to know each other."
Hodges said she enjoyed being able to relax on the train.
Now, instead of sitting in traffic, Hodges sits on a plush seat and enjoys her friends.
"Lately, some of us ladies have been getting together to pass around magazines and tell each other recipes," she said. "Some of us will just sit and read and do different things, or we'll talk about the events that are happening around town. There are many diverse people on the train."
But for all the connections that have been made, there have been some near-misses, too. On the evening of Sept. 19, Terrazas and Chase narrowly avoided being involved in the Rail Runner's second fatal accident when the train hit a car.
They had gotten off the train for a drink. Less than an hour later, the train they had been on hit a car between Los Lunas and Belen.
"Michael (Chase) and I were on the train during the first accident," Terrazas said. "We would have been on the second train also, but we stopped and had a beer because it was my birthday."
Chase said the camaraderie of the people with whom he rides the Rail Runner is an extra bonus to the $2,700 a year he saves by not driving his car to work.
"It's like one big family," Chase said. "I really do enjoy it."
