Can’t Someone Stop the Train to Nowhere?

By now it has become obvious that the planned “communter” train between Belen and Bernalillo makes no economic sense. Yet the legislature continues to debate this monstrocity. Can’t anyone step up and introduce a bill to put the train out of its misery?
It’s bad in so many ways:
–The cost will greatly exceed revenues.
–Ridership will be so small that no appreciable reduction in congestion will occur.
–The purchase of BNSF land and track holds many pitfalls, such as liability for damage claims and the loss of tax revenues on the land.
–What benefits there are (and these will be slim) will acrue to a very limited number of people, while taxpayers statewide pick up the tab. Better to use the money statewide for needed road improvements.
Now proponents of the rail line are asserting that even though the train will lose money, in twenty years it will begin to make sense. What a weak argument, unsupported by any evidence!
It’s time to pull the emergency cord and stop this monumental waste.