Albuquerque – New Mexico’s Rail Runner Express won’t be serving commuters in Belen and Los Lunas until at least December because the delivery of new track for the commuter train is months behind schedule, officials said Thursday.
A supplier has delayed the state’s order for rail for a siding at Isleta Pueblo and for a spur from the main track just north of Belen to the Rail Runner station there, said Augusta Meyers, communications director for the commuter train. A signaling project at Isleta also cannot be done until track is in.
The delay is “extremely frustrating; some could say even aggravating,” Lawrence Rael of the Mid-Region Council of Governments, which is spearheading the rail project, said Thursday.
Rail Runner officials, aware of the long lead time for delivery, ordered the rail in December, and once it comes in, crews will need 45 to 60 days to complete the project, Rael said.
“It’s a fairly small piece of track, but it’s critical to the project,” Meyers said.
