Recently while in New Mexico I had the great pleasure of taking the Roadrunner Express, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I had read about it, and was eager to have the experience of going to that beautiful city, by train rather than car, and of experiencing not the highway and its traffic but rather the grand and barren scenery of rural New Mexico.
The trip was marvellous, as was our time in Santa Fe. The train departs from the combined bus and train station in downtown Albuquerque (itself well served by city buses), which seems over the years to have come a fair ways in the transformation from a concept to an actual place which one might wish to visit, and drops you either at the government buildings (Santa Fe being the state capital) or a short walk (or shuttle bus ride) from the famous and touristy downtown plaza. The tickets are on sale on the train, or if you make the trip regularly you can buy a pass; while waiting for the train, you can read about the number of cars that the train takes off the highway each year, and the consequent reductions in tons of CO2 emissions.
What’s not to like?
On discussing the journey with friends and family in Albuquerque, the main reaction was, “Oh yes, I plan to take that someday.” People also voiced their concern that the train is losing money. When I asked if they similarly expect the roads and highways to prove profitable, the response was so violent that for the sake of polite conversation, I changed the subject.
I suspect the anger was due to the impression that the train is a frivolous invention quite inappropriate in a time of economic crisis, whereas roads and highways are the infrastructure that allows the state to function. This impression is furthered by the fact that everyone pointed out to me that it takes 50% longer to reach Santa Fe by train than by car: 90 rather than 60 minutes. The problem, they explained, is that the native Americans insisted on having stations on their reservations, though nobody actually uses them, and that slows the trains down. Apparently they should have agreed to having the tracks built across their land without asking for anything in return. When all else fails, blame the Indians. (I wonder what the excuse is for the slowness of the train between LA and San Francisco, which when we took it required 12 hours?)
Others told me that they would like to take the train, but they can’t afford the time. Since it is slower than driving, it would mean losing an entire hour out of a working day…. Other than the time that it takes to reach the station in Albuquerque rather than driving from one’s home, I would look at the time difference as pure gain. In a car, if you are driving you have to pay attention to the traffic the whole way, though potentially you could listen to a book on tape. Being a passenger doesn’t usually afford much opportunity for productive work either. But on a nice comfortable train like this one, where many of the seats also have tables, there is plenty of chance to work.
I spent the time reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, enjoying the scenery, chatting with my husband, writing postcards, speculating on the psychological condition of a family down the aisle (the wife was silent but would nod her head as if to indicate that she was paying attention; the husband talked nearly non-stop to what I assumed were his in-laws), and buying a little jewellery from the native American couple seated across from us. I had enjoyed seeing how industrious the man was, fastening wires onto pendants while crouched on the platform waiting for the train doors to open, and now continuing to sort through necklaces and pendants. We bought two necklaces and enjoyed a pleasant conversation that drifted along with the train through the landscape. When he handed me his business card, I was amused and delighted to discover that their names are those of my great-uncle and grandmother. This seemed a good omen. And certainly not time wasted. If I had been so inclined, I could have, as I saw others doing, pulled out a laptop, or taken a nap. The trip, that is, meant three hours gained rather than two hours wasted.
As for the lack of use of the stops on the reservations, a simple solution would be to invest a little money into building something worth visiting, right at the stations: perhaps local versions of Albuquerque’s Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, complete of course with a restaurant and gift shop. One might also wish to see why apparently none or few of the inhabitants of the reservation use the train to reach Albuquerque or other destinations. In other words, rather than complain, try turning the existing stations into more profitable use.
It’s a pity that the media continually tells people that trains are wasteful, frivolous, expensive gadgets that distract from the real business of cars and driving. Fortunately the pleasure of taking a train should be sufficient to ensure that, despite all the propaganda, people continue to demand them. Certainly our experience was that the train was immensely popular. In fact, most of my train rides in the US have been on crowded trains; similarly for public transit. Further proof that in the free market system, the public does not necessarily get what the public wants.
Something to think (and write) about the next time I take a train.
–Written by Debra Efroymson
