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So state transportation officials are smart to stay on track with plans to extend the Rail Runner Express commuter train from Bernalillo to Santa Fe on schedule, despite a federal funding shortfall.

The middle Rio Grande Valley can't afford to lose steam on this valuable mass transit project, even though the state was depending on a $75 million federal grant to help pay for the $250 million rail extension project.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Richardson and state Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught should work with New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici to see if the state still might qualify for a federal grant for the project or might be reimbursed for funds the state advances to pay for the project to cover the federal shortfall.

A year ago, Domenici announced that he had gained authorization for a $75 million grant for the project from the Federal Transit Administration, assuming the state would apply for the grant and meet certain federal criteria.

However, state officials said that while they did pursue the grant, they found the application process cumbersome, restrictive and long, with final funding rules not even expected until 2008 - at the end of which state officials hoped the Rail Runner extension would be complete and in operation.

Typical federal bureaucratic red tape. But, perhaps worse, state officials say they learned that the total budget for the federal transit program, Smart Starts, is only $100 million. And apparently, FTA already has committed $52 million of it to bus systems.

Although grants must be less than $75 million, and funded projects cannot be more than $250 million - criteria the Rail Runner extension would meet - the state also would have to prove that the Rail Runner project is cost effective.

It seems that the federal program is far less helpful than Domenici made it out to be, and the senator should be going to bat with the Republican administration to see if, and how, the Rail Runner project can qualify and be funded.

The country generally and New Mexico in particular need mass transit projects of this scope and quality.

Rising gasoline prices and growing concern over environmental impacts of carbon emissions from vehicles and power plants make commuter rail mass transit an excellent option, particularly for areas like the middle Rio Grande Valley and Santa Fe, where population historically has been clustered.

Domenici, others in the Congressional delegation and state officials should collaborate to persuade the FTA that the Rail Runner is a winner, worthy of federal support and already has demonstrated its popularity and cost effectiveness in the limited mass transit service it has offered Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Los Lunas and Belen.

Everyone, including the FTA, needs to get on board the Rail Runner and make this commuter rail project the success it can be.