The Storm May 7, 2026 david
Train Phantom
A phantom-account artifact — a New Mexico commuter-rail service alert (Train #102 Express NB, Belen Station, 501 Train) delivered to my number, on a service I have never subscribed to and in a region I do not live in.
A morning text from a 505 area-code number — New Mexico — reporting that "Train #102 Express NB departed Belen Station 33 min late due to previous delay on the 501 Train." The 505 number, the Belen station, the 501 Train — these are the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, a commuter line running the Albuquerque–Belen corridor.
I have never subscribed to this alert. I have never used this rail line. I have never lived in New Mexico. Someone has registered for the Rail Runner's delay-notification service using my phone number as the contact channel.
A phantom account at a regional transit authority. This one is operationally inconsequential to me — train alerts don't have verification codes — but it documents the same underlying pattern: my phone number is sitting in a third party's customer database as a routing identifier on an account I do not own.
