Third rail may help city

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The City of Gallup isn't the only entity thinking of making changes in the area of Second and Third streets.

Officials for the Burlington and Northern Santa Fe Railroad have informed the city that the company is considering installing a third rail in Gallup because of the increased railroad traffic expected in the next decade.

City officials have already been talking of that increased traffic and the fact that the rail guards, which are now down almost half of the time, may be down as much as 75 percent within a few years because of the increased traffic.

City Manager Eric Honeyfield said this talk of creating a third rail may help the city in its efforts to get funding for an underpass downtown.

Honeyfield has been pushing the idea of an underpass for the past several weeks and area legislators are now seeking $1 million in funding in this session of the state legislature to begin the preliminary planning for underpasses and overpasses in downtown Gallup as well as at the Allison Crossing area.

Looking at an aerial map of the Second and Third Street areas of downtown Gallup, Honeyfield pointed to land just north of the present train tracks and said it would be possible for BNSF when they put in the new third rail to move the tracks about 150 to 200 feet to the north.

BNSF will probably do this in order to keep the two rails now in existence in use during the construction of the third rail because they would not want to interrupt traffic through Gallup while the third rail is being put in.

This also would allow all three tracks to be moved north of where they are, thus providing more area to build an overpass or underpass. One of the problems the city was looking at in building an overpass in that area was how close the tracks are to U.S. Highway 66.

Another benefit to all of this, said Honeyfield, is that the railroad, in providing for the cost of putting the third rail in here, could also include funds to help the city pay for the downtown underpass or overpass.

"Railroads hate rail guards," Honeyfield said, and in this case, with the amount of traffic on the line, trains are spending more and more time adding cars and switching, which is the reason why there are times when trains just stop for several minutes at the crossing.

By supporting the city's efforts at creating a way for traffic to go unimpeded from north to south, the railroad wouldn't have to worry about how long it is taking for the switchovers.

In cases like this, said Honeyfield, the railroad usually comes in and helps pay for five to 10 percent of the cost of putting in an overpass or underpass.

While this all looks good for the downtown area, Honeyfield stressed that the Allison Crossing project still is the city's top priority.