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US provides $16M for track work along Southwest Chief route

RATON, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $16 million grant to Colfax County in northeastern New Mexico to refurbish a freight railroad's tracks used by passenger trains serving Amtrak's Southwest Chief route. New Mexico congressional delegation members who supported the application for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery funding announced Friday by the department say the work includes replacing 42 miles (68 kilometers) of 60-year-old bolted rail and replacing segments of crossties. Most of the work will be on BNSF Railway tracks in New Mexico but some will be in Colorado and Kansas. Two previous grants paid for work on other sections of the Southwest Chief route, which connects Los Angeles and Chicago.