The Santa Fe Southern Railway will be back on track with a new luxury train service — including a gourmet dining car and a party parlor — by the end of August. (Take a peek inside the cars in our accompanying slideshow.)
The SFSR, which has not run its excursion service from Santa Fe for about 18 months, has signed a deal with X Train Holdings (OTCQB: XTRN), which is part of Las Vegas Railway Express Inc., to bring the company’s new luxury train travel to Santa Fe for excursion services.
“What they’re planning to do is something that’s never be done, a fine luxury service in Santa Fe. We never had the financial resources to do it the way we wanted, and we certainly never had the resources to offer the luxury services,” said Karl Ziebarth, chairman and CEO of the SFSR board.
The Santa Fe Southern Railway is a short line railroad in New Mexico. It carries passengers and freight between Lamy and Santa Fe, a distance of 18.1 miles. The railroad was featured recently in the AMC TV series “Breaking Bad” in season five.
By the end of the week, the Santa Fe Southern Railway expects to have a fleet of the fancy new railcars to add to its trains, which start rolling in August.
The SFSR, Ziebarth said, has retained freight and passenger rights. It will run the trains. Two or three X Train cars will join the company’s vintage open-air cars on the excursions.
“We are very pleased to be working with SFSR to see this historic rail service dating back to 1881 reinstated,” said Brian Harrington, vice president business development, for X Train Holdings. “We view this agreement with pride as we operate our plan to grow our affiliated businesses by adding value and strength from the X Train brand.”
X Train had planned on operating a luxury train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, but those plans fell through, the company said.
The trains will travel “fast enough to get you there, but not so fast that you spill your wine,” Ziebarth said.
The cost for a ride has not been finalized, Ziebarth said, but it would include dinner, drinks and the ride.
“Right now, we’re training and qualifying crews. We still have some hurdles to overcome,” he said. “We hope to get fired up in three to four weeks.”
By: Dan Mayfield (Albuquerque Business First)
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