Tourist train rides to Tecate suspended
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20030424-9999_2m24...
2 groups clash over excursions
By Anne Krueger
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 24, 2003
Tourist train rides between Campo and Tecate, Mexico, have been suspended while the two groups responsible for the excursions try to work out their
differences.
Officials at Carrizo Gorge Railway, which operates the trips two weekends a month, say they have had to cancel more than 1,000 reservations. Their
dispute is with the San Diego Railroad Museum, a volunteer organization that maintains the trains in the tiny, backcountry community of Campo.
Jim Lundquist, president of the railroad museum, said his group pulled out of its agreement with Carrizo Gorge because it was losing money on the
train trips.
"It didn't make sense for us to run any more trains into Mexico," he said.
The clash is an outgrowth of a controversy engulfing the museum membership in the past few years. Following a lawsuit and two contentious elections,
the museum's 25-member board was recalled last year and new members were installed.
Lundquist, one of eight plaintiffs in the lawsuit, was named president of the museum. The group has about 650 members.
Those who filed the lawsuit were among museum members who were upset about the board's agreement with Carrizo Gorge Railway to handle ticketing and
reservations for train rides out of the Campo depot.
Museum members operate a 15-mile ride east to Miller Creek; Carrizo Gorge employees ran the train to Tecate.
The trains hold about 300 passengers. Adult coach fares on the Tecate trip were $40 round trip.
Carrizo Gorge's deal provided the museum with 10 percent of the gross income from the Tecate rides. Lundquist said the museum received about $500 or
less for each train trip.
He said that wasn't enough to justify the cost of maintaining the trains. He also said the museum didn't have insurance to cover losses if a train
derailed or was damaged in Mexico.
Lundquist said Carrizo Gorge officials refused to negotiate a new deal with the railroad museum.
Kim James of Carrizo Gorge Railway said it was the other way around. The museum board was unreasonable and refused to negotiate, she said.
James said museum officials abruptly notified the railway that they were suspending the contract March 26, three days before a scheduled trip to
Tecate.
"It's completely unfair to the people who have already paid, who've already planned their trips," she said.
Through an agreement with the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, the railroad museum has the right to run passenger trains on the railroad tracks
running from Campo to the U.S.-Mexico border. Carrizo Gorge has the right to run trains in Mexico under an agreement with the Baja California
government.
After years of disrepair, the historic Tecate depot recently was renovated by the Baja government at a cost of $160,000. James said Carrizo Gorge's
agreement with the Baja government calls for the railway to bring tourists to Tecate on trains.
James said the cancellation of the train trips is preventing the railway from fulfilling its agreement. Jesus Torres Acevedo, head of Admicarga, the
Baja state office that oversees the agreement with Carrizo Gorge, did not respond to requests for an interview.
Ra?l Pe?alosa, secretary of the Tecate Chamber of Commerce and owner of a restaurant, said the suspension of the trips has hurt business in the
Mexican border town. For example, he said, one group of 35 customers called to cancel their reservations at his restaurant because their train wasn't
running.
James said the situation is inconveniencing passengers and damaging Carrizo Gorge's reputation.
Lundquist, of the railroad museum, said: "Cancellations happen. I've gone to the airport and found out my airplane wasn't going. It's an unfortunate
situation, but that's the way the world is."
James said Carrizo Gorge officials are looking into whether they can run their own trains on the Tecate route. Jack Limber, general counsel for MTDB,
said it would not be practical to run two passenger-train services on the track to Tecate.
Limber said he is confident the two sides will cooperate for their mutual benefit.
"I'm not saying in whose lifetime," he said. "But they will."
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