A City of Santa Fe plan to replace longtime Railyard station tenant Santa Fe Southern Railroad with a municipal visitors center has been quietly halted.

Management of Railyard, the recently-built transit-oriented redevelopment of the city’s old rail/warehouse district, stopped mayor David Coss’s move to, in his view, improve civic hospitality by filling the landmark ATSF depot with greeters and area advertising. The takeover would have forced SFS to relocate their headquarters to an unknown location.

The early 20th-century, adobe-style building contains an SFS ticket counter, offices, restrooms and a souvenir/t-shirt sales area for the eighteen-mile excursion-running, occasional freight-hauling line, now owned by an Australian corporation.

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter line has shared the Railyard platform track with SFS since starting Santa Fe service in December 2008, sells tickets on-train, does not need depot space. However, RR timetables, information and souvenirs are available within.

A railroad employee told the Time Table to prevent future business disruption, a successful long-term SFS/Railyard lease is expected.