Eighteen months from now, commuter trains are supposed to be traveling between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

While much work remains to be done to meet that schedule and funding isn’t completely set, planners say they are keeping pace with the timeline set by Gov. Bill Richardson to have the service up and running by the end of next year.

The state Department of Transportation has already made key decisions about the Santa Fe leg of the Rail Runner Express, the biggest being the location of new train tracks south of the city.

Now planners are seeking approval from the federal government to begin construction in the right-of-way median of Interstate 25.

Federal rules allow the highway median to be used for transit infrastructure such as train tracks, but Mid-Region Council of Governments Project Manager Chris Blewett said the state still has to apply for permission as a formality. In as few as two weeks, Blewett said final reports will be turned over for approval.

Passenger cars and locomotives have been ordered and will arrive late this year and early next year, along with 79,000 wooden railroad ties and 7,200 tons of steel rail that will be delivered by the end of summer, he said.

A construction contract for rebuilding the tracks used by Santa Fe Southern Railway should also be in place in the coming months.

“I feel pretty good about where we are at right now,” Blewett said.

The biggest logistical questions that remain revolve around where the train will stop in and around Santa Fe. The Transportation Department has already committed to a stop at the Railyard downtown and plans to build a new train station at its headquarters at Cordova and Cerrillos roads.

Blewett said next month he’ll schedule meetings to nail down the best spot for a station in Santa Fe County, with the strong likelihood of locating it near where Richards Avenue crosses below I-25 or near the N.M. 599/I-25 interchange.

In addition, the city plans to hire consultants to study the viability of an additional stop inside the city limits. Some ideas on the table include a stop at the intersection of Zia and St. Francis or near the Greyhound bus station on St. Michael’s Drive.

But transit planner Jon Bulthuis, director of the Santa Fe Trails bus system, said if an extra city stop is decided on, it won’t be built for the start of the train service at the end of 2008.

The city will focus its efforts on making the Transportation Department headquarters facility an “intermodel center,” he said. Rail Runner riders will be able to transfer to Santa Fe Trails buses, taxis and other transportation.

The new headquarters complex is part of a state plan to partner with a private developer to build residential and commercial spaces along with a bus and train stop and government offices. Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught selected a bidder for the project in December but negotiations have not led to a contract yet with Santa Fe Properties Development Co., said S.U. Mahesh, a department spokesman. The development firm is associated with Santa Fe real-estate and art dealer Gerald Peters, a Richardson contributor.

Regardless of whether the mixed-use part of the redevelopment happens quickly, Mahesh said, the train will be able to load and unload passengers from that location on time according to the governor’s deadline.

“It takes about three months to build a train station, so we are pretty confident that we will have the train station done by the end of 2008,” he said Friday.

The $400 million budget for the Albuquerque-to-Santa Fe phase of the Rail Runner project is also still partially unfunded. Congress promised to contribute $75 million, but the state hasn’t yet received the money. Because of the delay, Richardson asked lawmakers during the last legislative session to set aside $35 million for the project. At the time, his spokesman said the governor would make up the other $40 million next year.

In the Albuquerque area, the trains have carried more than 360,000 riders since the service began in July 2006.

On the web: www.nmRailRunner.com.