Espanola's mayor says his town has always been a railroad town since the Chile Line passed through in the 1800s.

Now, he says it’s time to bring the Rail Runner through Espanola and he hopes it will help revitalizing the area's economy.

Mayor Joseph Maestas says right now is the best time to look at the issue, especially since there's still a lot of excitement about the opening of the Santa Fe extension.

Maestas says extending the line would make sense, not only because it could bring in out-of-town dollars like it has in Santa Fe, but also because of the huge commuter base between Santa Fe and Espanola.

Rail Runner officials agree. They say corridor between the two cities is very congested and they say it would benefit from some kind of rail project.

"The amount of cars going from Santa Fe to Espanola that service that area of northern New Mexico is very high, it’s probably even higher than the market between Albuquerque and Belen and we're getting great success between Albuquerque and Belen," said Lawrence Rael of the Rail Runner.

For right now, it is simply an idea and Maestas says he realizes funding would be a big issue.

State leaders in Taos are also trying to launch a study to see how feasible it would be to extend the rail runner to their city.