The New Mexico Rail Runner Express (AAR reporting mark 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 (Rio Metro), 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. Daily ridership, as of February 2019, was 2,200 trips per day. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . History The concept of passenger rail serving the Central New Mexico corridor had been discussed for decades, but it wasn't until August 2003, when New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced that his administration was going to pursue the implementation of commuter rail service, that a serious effort got underway. Later that same year, grants were given to NMDOT and MRCOG to begin the effort, and the New Mexico State Legislature passed Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership (GRIP), a transportation improvement package with the Rail Runner included as one of the bill's projects. Over the next few years, NMDOT and the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) developed a strategy for implementing the rail service. In 2005, a name and a branding scheme was chosen. The name “Rail Runner” is a play on the name of New Mexico's state bird, the roadrunner. The cars and locomotives were received throughout the year of 2005 and groundbreaking for the first Rail Runner station took place on October 31, 2005. During this time the state also conducted negotiations with BNSF over the use of the railroad track. After assessing the needs of the track, the state of New Mexico committed to purchasing the railroad corridor from Belen to the New Mexico-Colorado border from BNSF (although, thus far only the portion between Belen and Lamy, NM has been purchased), to ensure that commuter trains would always get the right-of-way and have priority over freight trains in the corridor. While the engines are capable of , the track limits the maximum speed to . The Rail Runner officially went into service on July 14, 2006,