Teague pushes Rail Runner to El Paso

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - New Mexico Congressman Harry Teague wants the state to take hard look at extending Rail Runner service south to Las Cruces and El Paso.

The trains now run along a 90 mile stretch from Belen to Santa Fe.

Will there be enough passengers if the service is extended more than two hundred miles south?

Most people arriving in Albuquerque via bus from El Paso and Las Cruces said they'd prefer the Rail Runner, if it didn't cost too much.

"Yeah the price would probably have a lot to do with it," Diane Enriquez, who commutes between Albuquerque and Las Cruces weekly, said.

Enriquez pays $50 for a round trip ticket. She says she'd pay $100 for the same trip on the Rail Runner—which she said would be faster and more comfortable.

Teague wants a study to examine how much it would cost taxpayers and commuters for a major southern expansion of Rail Runner.

"It will tell us what we need for what the public wants, what is feasible economically," said the Democratic congressman. "It would also deal with the amount of fuel and energy we can save."

Teague will get a first hand feel for the long ride Saturday morning, as he'll climb aboard the Rail Runner for a special trip from Albuquerque to Las Cruces.

Teague believes Rail Runner service to El Paso can create development in places like the spaceport and Elephant Butte.