Los Ranchos/Journal Center station

Los Ranchos/Journal Center
Los Ranchos/Journal Center;
	Rail Runner Express commuter rail station
	The platform of Los Ranchos/Journal Center station
Location	101 El Pueblo Road; North Valley, NM
Coordinates	35°10′34″N106°37′2″W / 35.17611°N 106.61722°W Coordinates: 35°10′34″N106°37′2″W / 35.17611°N 106.61722°W
Line(s)	Rail Runner Express Park and Ride Purple route
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Connections	ABQRide
Construction
Parking	270 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	Zone B
History
Opened	14 July 2006
Services

Last updated July 06, 2019

Los Ranchos/Journal Center is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in North Valley, New Mexico.

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express (NMRX) is a commuter rail system serving the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is administered by the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) and the Rio Metro Regional Transit District, a regional transportation agency, while Herzog Transit Services currently holds the contract for the operation and maintenance of the line & equipment. Phase I of the system, operating on an existing right of way from Belen to Bernalillo that NMDOT purchased from BNSF Railway, opened in July 2006. Phase II, the extension of the line to Santa Fe, opened in December 2008.

Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city centre and middle to outer suburbs beyond 15 km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis. Trains operate following a schedule at speeds varying from 50 to 225 km/h. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used.

North Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2010 Census, the CDP population was 11,333. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, known locally simply as "Los Ranchos" or "The Village," is a village in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 6,024 at the 2010 Census. Part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area, Los Ranchos is located on the east side of the Rio Grande, adjacent to the unincorporated North Valley area. Los Ranchos is surrounded on three sides by the larger city of Albuquerque, and its location astride busy transportation routes has been a source of friction with its larger neighbor, as Los Ranchos' efforts to maintain its rural character conflicts with Albuquerque's desire to enhance transportation. Like the North Valley and Corrales, Los Ranchos is an expensive, mostly rural area with widely spaced large houses and dense vegetation.

The Alvarado Transportation Center (ATC) is a multimodal transit hub located at 100 1st Street SW in Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. The complex was built as a hub for Albuquerque's regional transit system and as a replacement for Albuquerque's previous bus depot and train station. The center serves ABQ RIDE, Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line.

Passengers can transfer to ABQRide Route 251, which serves the Jefferson corridor and Rio Rancho. The station has free parking, with 270 spaces. The station is also served by the Park and Ride Purple route.

Rio Rancho is the largest city and economic hub of Sandoval County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. A small portion of the city extends into northern Bernalillo County. It is the third-largest and also one of the fastest expanding cities in New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, Rio Rancho had a population of 93,820.

Each of the Rail Runner stations contains an icon to express each community's identity. The icon representing this station is a horse, representing the importance of horse travel and farming in the region.^[1]

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. It is an odd-toed ungulate mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, Eohippus, into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BC, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BC. Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, as this term is used to describe horses that have never been domesticated, such as the endangered Przewalski's horse, a separate subspecies, and the only remaining true wild horse. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior.

Platform

Los Ranchos/Journal Center Station opened with a platform built long enough to accommodate three cars. Within a year of service, the Rail Runner was running five-car trains during peak periods. This prompted MRCOG to expand the platforms at Los Ranchos & Sandoval/US 550 Stations to accommodate four cars in 2009. The last car (Closest to the engine) is usually filled with commuters destined for the Santa Fe South Capitol and Depot stations.^[2]

Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work, or study, and in doing so exceed the boundary of their residential community. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations, even when not work-related. A distinction is also often made between commuters who commute daily or weekly between their residence to work place, often being suburbs to cities, and are therefore considered respectively local or long-distance commuters.

Parking

The original station opened in 2006 with 140 parking spots. Within the first year of service, parking was full, and commuters resorted to parking along the sides of the main road as well as alongside the railroad tracks. In response to the need of more parking, MRCOG leased an acre of land from a local landscaping business to create 130 more parking spots in August 2009. This has nearly doubled the amount of parking and has satisfied local homeowners and businesses.^[3]^[4]

Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:

living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beauty within the landscape.
natural elements such as landforms, terrain shape and elevation, or bodies of water; and
abstract elements such as the weather and lighting conditions.

Notes

The Rail Runner was featured on MythBusters solving a popular myth that the vortex of wind a train creates can pick up a person standing close to the tracks. The Mythbusters tested and performed their myth at this station. The episode debuted on November 8, 2006.^[5]

Related Research Articles

Albuquerque, also known locally as Duke City and abbreviated as ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the 32nd-most populous city in the United States, with a census-estimated population of 558,545 in 2017. It is the principal city of the Albuquerque metropolitan area, which has 915,927 residents as of July 2018. Albuquerque's Metropolitan statistical area is the 60th-largest in the United States. The Albuquerque MSA population includes the cities of Rio Rancho, Bernalillo, Placitas, Corrales, Los Lunas, Belen, and Bosque Farms, and forms part of the larger Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Las Vegas combined statistical area, with a total population of 1,171,991 in 2016.

Martins Heron railway station serves Martins Heron, a suburb on the eastern edge of Bracknell, Berkshire, England. It is 31 miles 9 chains (50.1 km) down the line from London Waterloo, between Ascot and Bracknell on the Waterloo to Reading line.

ABQ RIDE is the local transit agency serving Albuquerque, New Mexico. ABQ RIDE operates a variety of city bus routes including the Rapid Ride semi-BRT service. Serving 13 million passengers in 2012, it is the largest public transportation system in the state.

The Tuckahoe station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in the village of Tuckahoe, New York. It is 16 miles (25.7 km) from Grand Central Terminal and travel time there is approximately 39 minutes. As of August 2006, daily commuter ridership was 1,378 and there are 314 parking spots. This station is located in the Zone 3 Metro-North fare zone.

The Mamaroneck station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, located in Mamaroneck, New York.

Sandoval County/US 550 is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in Bernalillo, New Mexico, United States.

Downtown Bernalillo is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in Bernalillo, New Mexico, United States.

Los Lunas is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in Los Lunas, New Mexico, at the intersection of NM Highway 314 and Courthouse Road. The station began service on December 11, 2006 as the fourth station on the line. Los Lunas Public Transportation has shuttles serving the station. Each of the Rail Runner stations contains an icon to express each community's identity. The icon representing this station is the old Los Lunas train station.

Belen is the southern terminus of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in the center of the town of Belen, New Mexico, near the intersection of Reinken Avenue and Wisconsin Street. It serves residents of Belen and surrounding communities in Valencia County, New Mexico. The station began service on February 2, 2007, as the fifth station on the line.

Bernalillo County/International Sunport is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in South Valley, New Mexico, United States.

South Capitol is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico at 1301 Alta Vista, between St. Francis Drive and Cerrillos Road, near the South Capitol Governmental Complex. It opened to service on December 17, 2008.

Zia Road is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The station is the first Rail Runner stop to be constructed on private land. Officials had predicted that the station was scheduled to open in August 2011, following an agreement from the city's finance committee that the stop will open if the owners construct parking and transit facilities for the station and the station opened in April 2017.

Santa Fe County/NM 599 is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in Santa Fe County. It opened August 1, 2009.

Kewa Pueblo is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line, located in Kewa Pueblo on Indian Service Route 88. It opened on March 22, 2010.

The Lobo Special Events Platform is an inactive limited use platform on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line. MRCOG created the station in 2009 at a cost of $1 million, split between MRCOG and The University of New Mexico. It was created as an incentive for residents of the region to use alternative transportation to attend University of New Mexico sports games as well as games of the Albuquerque Isotopes minor baseball team at Isotopes Park.

Montaño is a station on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line on Montaño Rd. between Edith Blvd. and Second St., in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The station opened on April 7, 2014, marking the end of construction of the Montaño Transit Center.

Albuquerque Rapid Transit, also known as ART, is a bus rapid transit (BRT) line serving the Central Avenue corridor in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. The line runs between Tramway Boulevard and the Central and Unser Transit Center (CUTC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It began partial operation in November 2017, after a year of construction. Full service was expected to commence in early 2018, but in January 2018, mayor Tim Keller announced that the system wouldn't open for "many months" due to station design issues and severe construction flaws of the buses supplied by Chinese manufacturer BYD Automobile.

References

↑ Los Ranchos/Journal Center Station information
↑ Rail Runner extends platforms at two stations
↑ ABQ Journal - More Rail Runner Parking Monday
↑ Bernallilo County/NM Rail Runner Press Release
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-11-09. Retrieved 2011-10-13.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) Discovery Channel Mythbusters episode list - same episode as "Concrete Glider"

External links

Stations, Los Ranchos/Journal Center (Official Rail Runner site)

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[1] Los Ranchos/Journal Center Station information

[2] Rail Runner extends platforms at two stations

[3] ABQ Journal - More Rail Runner Parking Monday

[4] Bernallilo County/NM Rail Runner Press Release

[5] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-11-09. Retrieved 2011-10-13.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) Discovery Channel Mythbusters episode list - same episode as "Concrete Glider"