Planners Look for A Way to Fund Rail Service August 19, 2008 Gas prices are high so many people are looking at alternative transportation. One proposed solution is rail service from Lynchburg to D.C. through Charlottesville. Funding it may be the biggest hurdle.
Amtrak has said they support this new daily route if the state helps pay for it. Monday Governor Tim Kaine warned of possible massive budget cuts. Virginia lawmakers, Governor Kaine, and transportation planners met in Richmond Tuesday to see if there is a way to come up with the cash.Piedmont Rail Coalition Chair Meredith Richards says, "the drive to Washington on the highway is a nightmare, the gas is 4 dollars a gallon...everybody wants an environmentally responsible alternative, so people are clamoring to get back on the train."
Amtrak agrees. The railroad supports the new route if the state can come up with about 1.8 million dollars each year to help pay for it."What we need to do is find a new source of money to fund rail services, this has never happened in Virginia ...we have no fund right now in Virginia dedicated to rail services," says Richards.
Delegate David Toscano is one of many meeting in Richmond to scour the budget, and try to find money to pay for new rail service."We're engaged in a bipartisan effort to try and get this service in play in the next couple of years," Toscano says.
Supporters are not looking for money from the state's general fund, which means they've got to find another way to come up with the cash in a way that does not take money from the already struggling budget."We have to be optimistic, we know the public wants this service, we know about the budget crunch in Richmond, we're painfully aware of it but we have to do is be creative use our collective strength and find a way to fund this service," says Richards.
The service would use tracks that are already in place, no new trains are needed, and now it's just a question of finding money to get the project on track.Toscano says the Governor and transportation department staff are going to be putting together some final recommendations in the next couple months.
Richards says, they already have track improvements paid for, which means they only need the operating costs. The plan is to have the new route going by 2010, that is of course, if they can come up with the money.
Amtrak's proposed new daily round-trip service between Lynchburg, VA and Washington, DC and on to New York City and Boston has created excitement in the Piedmont Rail Corridor. We've included a sampling of the news stories and editorials about this potential new passenger train for one of Virginia's most under-served rail corridors.
Enhanced passenger rail to DC remains under review
On June 4, 2008, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors received an update from Kevin Page, Chief of Rail Transportation, for Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT). Supervisors learned that the additional Amtrak daily train route they hoped would connect Lynchburg, VA to Washington, DC, with a stop in Charlottesville, was under review, but that support was not guaranteed and operational funding was currently unavailable.
A Chance for Expanded Train Service Published: April 28, 2008
If elected officials in the region are serious about adding an Amtrak daily passenger train from Lynchburg to Washington, D.C., they need to let the state know — and soon.
That was the message last week from a meeting involving an Amtrak representative and state and local officials. Communities along the U.S. 29 corridor have less than a 30-day “window of opportunity” to persuade state officials and Amtrak to start planning for a second daily passenger train between Lynchburg and Washington.
A second daily train would be a pleasant alternative for regional travelers.
Lynchburg Vice Mayor Bert Dodson said the Amtrak representative at the meeting in Culpeper was enthusiastic about the chances of the region getting a second passenger train to run to and from Washington. Amtrak already has one passenger train running through Lynchburg on a daily basis. Although it arrives early in the morning, several rail advocates at the meeting said it is hard to get a ticket on that one train.
Dodson said he planned to present the information he gathered at the meeting to other members of City Council with the hope that the council would support the additional train. One good reason for the second daily train, he said, is it could allow people who work in Northern Virginia and Washington to live in smaller cities along the U.S. 29 corridor and commute by train a couple of days a week while working from home on other days.
Amtrak wants to start the second train daily and predicts it would have 33,000 riders the first year. The passenger service would need financial assistance from the state amounting to about $1.8 million per year.
The state’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation has shown strong support for the proposal. Thomas Stennis, the Amtrak representative at the meeting, estimated the train could be operating within two years because of that support. But, John J. Davies, the Culpeper area’s representative on the Commonwealth Transportation Board that oversees the rail department, told the community leaders that getting their letters and comments into the Transportation Board’s record in the next month is vital.
The rail department is expected to produce a statewide rail plan in June. Davies said the U.S. 29 corridor could fare well in that plan if community leaders support the concept of the second daily passenger train to Washington.
The biggest competition for the line, on a statewide basis, is the other north-south route along the Interstate 95 corridor between Richmond and Washington. That route, of course, has a larger population and more potential riders.
Davies pointed out, however, among conditions favoring the U.S. 29 corridor are Norfolk Southern tracks that are in excellent shape for passenger service and a comparatively low cost to Amtrak for starting up the service. He said the route’s potential for economic development more than justified the state money required to support the service.
Let’s face it. With the price of gasoline rising out of sight, taking the train to Washington and back would be a far more efficient use of existing energy supplies. It would also take some traffic off U.S. 29, stretching the life of that roadway in these money-short times the state faces maintaining its thousands of miles of highways.
The next step is up to City Council and the boards of supervisors in Amherst, Bedford and Campbell counties. They need to get their letters of support to the Commonwealth Transportation Board in the next couple of weeks. Those letters could make a second daily passenger train to Washington possible. And that would add substantially to the transportation options for those living in Central Virginia.
Charlottesville Daily Progress Published: April 28, 2008
Thirty days to win better rail service? Well, let’s get moving.
Improved passenger service to Washington has long been a goal of rail advocates and ordinary passengers alike. The one daily D.C. train that now serves Charlottesville and points north and south is typically booked so far in advance on weekdays that many travelers can’t get a seat.
Amtrak did try adding extra seating a few years back. But the cars that it used to provide that capacity were described by commuters as atrocious. The experiment flopped.
Despite that, there has continued to be anecdotal evidence that commuters and pleasure travelers want added capacity, backed up by Amtrak’s history of frequently sold-out trains from Lynchburg to Washington.
A rail advocacy group that met in Culpeper last week seemed encouraged by Amtrak’s openness toward the idea of adding a second train.
Members of the group suggested that communities along the U.S. 29 corridor have a 30-day “window of opportunity” to convince Amtrak and state officials to add the train.
Another route — paralleling Interstate 95 and serving Richmond and Washington — is in competition for the route. The state is involved because state money would be needed to help support the train.
There’s the downside to the proposal. Amtrak estimates it would need some $1.8 million a year in state assistance. In time of tight budgeting, the proposed subsidy raises legitimate questions.
How important is it for Virginia to invest in passenger rail? What are the economic payoffs?
State and regional support for Amtrak is part of the new paradigm, as the federal government continues to push responsibilities down to lower levels of government, in this and other areas.
Transportation subsidies are not new, however. State and federal governments have long subsidized highways, so helping support rail is precedented.
Factions still argue, however, over which subsidy is more efficient and more useful to taxpayers.
Rising fuel prices should be tilting that argument toward preference for mass transportation, however. The state’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation was described by rail advocates as supportive of expanding train service.
If it’s going to happen, we naturally hope it’s going to happen here.
This area has a long history of advocating for better rail service — we hope state officials have noticed.
Thirty days to convince officials that we want and deserve better service? We’ve being trying to win that debate for years.
Two Va. Corridors Vie For More Train Service
By Michael Laris Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, April 26, 2008; B03
An Amtrak proposal to add a single train from either Lynchburg or Newport News to Union Station has spurred a competition between the two slices of Virginia and pointed to severe limits on state and federal transportation funding.
State officials had asked Amtrak for ideas on the best ways to increase passenger rail in Virginia within a few years. Amtrak officials surveyed possibilities across the state and ended up with the two round-trip routes, each of which would need to be subsidized by the state.
This week, proponents of the Lynchburg option gathered in Culpeper, one of the stops, to press their campaign for the increased service. Charlottesville, Manassas and Alexandria are also on the route.
"There are major universities on this corridor, and a tremendous amount of population and commercial growth that's taken place," said Meredith Richards, a former member of the Charlottesville City Council who heads the Piedmont Rail Coalition, an advocacy group. "They have only one train a day in each direction that serves those communities on a seven-days-a-week basis. . . . It's not easy to get on these trains," she said.
But Newport News Mayor Joe S. Frank said yesterday that his region, which has more service but also more people, is also hungry for the added capacity.
"We have 1.6 million people here in the metro area, lots of military folks that need to be up at the Pentagon and go to D.C. on a regular basis, lots of business people, as well as tourists," Frank said. "We think we're under-served."
The route includes stops in Williamsburg and Richmond.
The debate comes as the effort to stretch Metrorail in the Washington region from Falls Church to Dulles International Airport remains stalled, according to Fairfax County Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock). But she noted that Metro and the state's passenger and freight rail systems are managed separately. She is on a state advisory board on passenger and freight rail.
"What we're trying to accomplish is looking at your heavy rail, looking at your freight railroads and looking for opportunities we've never examined before for resolving congestion and improving the environment," Bulova said.
The Newport News route would require $1.7 million a year in operating subsidies, while Lynchburg would cost $1.9 million a year, but state rail officials said the start-up costs could be higher for Newport News.
The modest proposal for more service to Newport News or Lynchburg awaits state decisions on funding. The added train to Newport News would increase passengers by 50,500 annually, or 139 per day. Lynchburg ridership would increase 33,100 annually, or 91 a day, according to rail officials.
Transportation dollars have been squeezed in the state because of the economic downturn and a Supreme Court ruling junking a transportation funding plan.
In 2005, Virginia started setting aside money for passenger and freight rail across the state. The funds come from a tax on car rentals that generates about $23 million a year for rail, according to Jennifer Pickett, chief of staff of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
But Pickett noted that those funds do not meet state needs.
"The needs for rail in Virginia are in the billions. We have a modest source of funding," she said.
Officials have, for instance, studied adding a third rail line from Richmond to the District along the Interstate 95 corridor, which itself would cost a billion dollars. A major project to reduce truck traffic on Interstate 81 would be comparable, she said.
This summer, the state plans to release a wide-ranging plan for rail improvements through 2035. Among the big ideas that could be covered, advocates said, is an ambitious plan for a high-speed train from Washington to Charlotte, and eventually to Florida, though funding for such a vast effort has yet to be found.
OUR VIEW-Extra train through town a good idea
Staff Editorial Published: April 25, 2008
SUMMARY: The Piedmont Rail Coalition plan to offer more train service between Central Virginia and Washington D.C. is a plan we should all get behind.
Virginia’s U.S. 29 corridor is a growing area that is currently underserved by public transportation.
There are small airports and there is bus service, but the routes are limited and often not convenient.
Existing Amtrak service provides just one train per day and the schedule is not conducive to the way most people live.
That’s why movement on a possible public-private plan that would bring a second daily Amtrak train from Lynchburg, through Charlottesville and Culpeper on its way to Washington, D.C. makes so much sense.
At a meeting held here in Culpeper, Meredith Richards, chairwoman of the Piedmont Rail Coalition, said that a partnership between Norfolk Southern and Amtrak could make this option a reality as early as 2010.
It can’t come soon enough.
If you have ever been on a train headed to Washington from the Lynchburg area, you know that by the time the train leaves Charlottesville, it is often packed with commuters as well as tourists visiting the Capitol City. Seats are often tough to find for those who board in Culpeper.
Another drawback is that with so many people boarding during the long run which stretches from Jacksonville, Fla. to Washington, the schedule is often hard to keep.
Delays are frequent, making train travel an option many riders shy away from.
A second train heading that direction — especially one that would be on a shorter run — would be both advantageous and well-received.
The next step in this process will be putting the plan before the Virginia Legislature. That could come in July.
Now may be a good time to let your representatives know that you are for this plan and urge them to get on board as well.
New passenger train pulling into Culpeper?
Published: April 23, 2008
The Piedmont Rail Coalition is urging local residents to get on board with a public-private plan that would bring a second daily Amtrak train to Culpeper en route to Washington, D.C., start-ing as early as 2010.
“I think we are closer than we have ever been to having at least one new route,” said Meredith Richards, chairwoman of the Piedmont Rail Coalition, a group of government, economic development, tourism and business leaders from around Virginia’s U.S. 29 corridor.
The PRC hosts its second meeting Thursday in Culpeper starting at 10 a.m. in the Depot, appropriately, to discuss what is being described as “a golden opportunity” for new passenger train service in a desperately underserved area.
Culpeper Town Councilman Chris Snider serves on the Coalition and said he hears all the time from his constituents about the lack of passenger rail.
“The growing frustration over record delays, soaring gas prices and dangerous road conditions when driving to Washington is steering more and more Culpeper residents to ride the train,” he said. “We believe that passenger rail can and must play a much larger role in our transportation network of the future, and the sooner, the better.”
Apparently, and with any luck, it could happen sooner than later.
Richards, a longtime rail ad-vocate and former vice mayor of Charlottesville, said Amtrak and Norfolk Southern — the freight-liner that owns the rails the new passenger train would use — are in negotiations with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to, in fact, make it happen.
The public-private plan would require the state to fund operations for the new “Piedmont Corridor” train to the tune of $1.9 million annually.
Amtrak already has similar partnerships in place in 14 other states, said Richards, and she wants Virginia to be the 15th.
The proposed train would start in Lynchburg, departing at 5:05 a.m., stopping in Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas and Alexandria before arriving in D.C.’s Union Station at 8:40 a.m. and continuing on to New York City.
Southbound, the train would leave D.C. around 5 p.m. daily and make all the same stops before arriving in Lynchburg, where it would layover for servicing, according to Amtrak’s report for “Advancing Passenger Rail in the commonwealth of Virginia.”
Currently, Culpeper and points south along U.S. 29 in the Virginia Piedmont are served with a single daily Amtrak train: the Crescent, which traverses a much longer route using the Norfolk Southern lines — from New York to New Orleans — and is therefore more likely to be behind schedule.
But because the proposed new passenger train would dock nightly in Lynchburg in the heart of the Piedmont, it would be “an on-time train,” said Rich-ards, adding, “(Amtrak) is shoot-ing for 95 percent performance.”
In order to get the train in service in the next two years will require hefty investment, on the state’s part, in railway improve-ments.
Norfolk Southern has already applied to do the required track upgrades between Manassas and Lynchburg, Richards said, and would pay 30 percent of the es-timated $14 million cost — a private investment mandated, by law, for use of the state’s rail enhancement funds.
The specified rail improvements would primarily allow for a higher speed passenger train, but not “high-speed,” said Rich-ards. Also, the proposed rail upgrades, starting and finishing in 2010, have been included in the state’s latest rail plan to be released in June, she said.
“It is going to be an unusual move for the state to start fund-ing passenger rail operations through Amtrak,” Richards ad-mitted, “though there has been state funding for the (Virginia) Railway Express so it is not unheard of.”
As for what could be asked of localities along the new Piedmont Corridor, Richards said, local donations would likely come in the form of in-kind invest-ments: use of local train stations as ticket outlets, for example, or expanded parking options for passengers.
Residents and commuters in support of the plan should contact their state legislators, said Richards, to voice their backing.The state’s new rail plan, in-cluding the Amtrak train pro-posal, will be presented to the Virginia General Assembly in July, she expected.
By that time, “We need to have all our legislators representing districts served by this corridor ready to support the new service.”
Councilman Snider is on board.
“Travelers can enjoy the benefits of direct rail service to Wash-ington, and the fact that people can travel seamlessly from Lynchburg to New York City is an added bonus,” he said.
Amtrak’s Director of Government Affairs Thomas Stennis III will attend Thursday’s meeting in Culpeper to talk about other similar services being launched nationwide and how public advocacy has been key to getting these new trains running.
Interestingly, in the 1950s, there were 22 daily trains running between Charlottesville and D.C., Richards said.
Want to go? The Piedmont Rail Coalition meets Thursday staring at 10 a.m. in the Depot to talk about enhanced passenger rail serving the Virginia Piedmont.
Proposed passenger rail would link Lynchburg to D.C.
CULPEPER — Communities along the U.S. 29 corridor have a 30-day “window of opportunity” to persuade state officials and Amtrak to start up a daily passenger train between Lynchburg and Washington, rail advocates told local leaders Thursday.
Lynchburg Councilman Bert Dodson said he liked the enthusiasm that Amtrak representative Thomas Stennis demonstrated to city and county leaders along the U.S. 29 corridor who gathered here at the urging of the Piedmont Rail Coalition.
“I thought it would be one of those, ‘Well, it’s a good idea but it would cost a lot and be a number of years’” presentations, Dodson said. “But the Amtrak representative was pretty serious about how Amtrak felt about it, so I think it’s a great idea,” Dodson said.
Dodson said he couldn’t speak for the entire council, but he planned to present the information he gathered there to the other members.
It’s already hard to get a ticket from Lynchburg to Washington on the one train that operates on that route daily, several people at the meeting said.
Amtrak wants to start a second train daily, and although it would need state-funded assistance estimated at $1.8 million per year, Amtrak predicts it would have 33,000 riders the first year.
Dodson said a second daily train could allow people who work in Northern Virginia and Washington to live in smaller cities along the U.S. 29 corridor and commute by train a couple of days per week while working from home on other days.
Stennis said he personally estimated the train could be operating within two years, because the state’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation is showing strong support.
John J. Davies, the Culpeper area’s representative on the Commonwealth Transportation Board that oversees the rail department, said he thought a five-year time frame was more likely.
Davies told the community leaders that getting their letters and comments into the Transportation Board’s record in the next month is vital. The Department of Rail and Public Transportation will produce a statewide rail plan in June, and the U.S. 29 corridor could fare well in that plan if community leaders support the concept of a second daily train to Washington.
Davies said another north-south route, the Interstate 95 corridor from Richmond to Washington, is competing with U.S. 29 in the rail plan, and the I-95 corridor has a larger population and more potential riders.
The conditions that favor U.S. 29 are Norfolk Southern Railway tracks that are already in excellent shape for passenger service, and a comparatively low cost to Amtrak for starting up the service.
Davies told the community leaders that although public funds would be needed to support the service, the cost would be justified because of the route’s potential for economic development.
Freight rail traffic through Virginia is poised to increase sharply because the port at Hampton Roads is being upgraded to handle more container freight, and an inland port is soon to be built near Roanoke to offload those containers onto trucks and northbound trains.
Norfolk Southern is depending on state funding to help it upgrade its tracks to handle more freight trains, and that gives Virginia an opportunity to persuade NS to let more passenger trains use its rails, Davies said.
So will it be called the Charlottesvillian? Or the Lynchburger?
The following is a partial summary of the news and opinion that appeared in print in newspapers throughout the Piedmont Corridor following the Piedmont Rail Summit on November 15, 2007.
11/20/2007
Piedmont Rail Coalition sets sail Culpeper Times
By: Hilary Lewis
Enhanced passenger rail connecting cities and towns in the Piedmont corridor was the subject of a meeting of the Piedmont Rail Coalition on Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville.
The Piedmont Rail Summit convened local governments, tourism and economic development officials, organizations and businesses from localities throughout the corridor. Together, representatives outlined the aims of the coalition and discussed a variety of proposals for more frequent and reliable rail connections.
Culpeper Mayor Pranas Rimeikis was in attendance, as was John J. "Butch" Davies, Culpeper District representative to the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Both the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors and Town Council have passed resolutions of support for the coalition, which hopes new railways will help generate transportation solutions, economic development, and an improved quality of life in the US Route 29 corridor.
The Piedmont Rail Summit was organized by CvilleRail, a Charlottesville-based non-profit dedicated to improving rail service between corridor cities and the population and commercial centers to the north.
Direct passenger rail extending across the North Carolina border to Greensboro and Charlotte would be a future goal for the corridor. Pat Simmons, Director of the North Carolina DOT Rail Division, was the keynote speaker for the event. Kevin Page, Director of Rail Programs for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, also spoke.
"Our experience advocating for passenger rail is that more and more people are looking for an alternative to driving on congested and unsafe US 29, I-66 and I-95 between Washington and points to the south," said Meredith Richards, chairman and founder of the coalition.
"Ridership on the available rail service in this corridor is already at capacity, and reservations are hard to get. With expanded availability, we believe that substantial numbers of additional travelers would take the train, rather than drive, to and from Washington, DC."
Richards is a former Charlottesville City Councilor and Vice Mayor, former President of the Virginia Transit Association, a founding member of the Committee to Advance the TransDominion Express, and an appointee to Governor Mark Warner's Commission on Rail Enhancement for the 21st Century.
"The Piedmont Corridor was once served by more than 20 passenger trains each day to and from Washington, DC," she said. "With today's diminished track capacity, shared use with freight, and limited funding for transportation alternatives, we will not see a return to this level of service in the foreseeable future. But with the cooperation of the members of the Piedmont Rail Coalition, we should achieve some success in bringing more rail travel options to the region. Already, Amtrak ridership per scheduled weekly train is higher at the Charlottesville station than either Newport News or Richmond."
According to Parade Magazine, Amtrak ridership is at an all-time high, with trains carrying up to 54 percent of commuter trips in the Northeast, and new intercity routes in states such as Illinois boosting rail ridership 50 percent over previous years.
"We are learning that, in state after state, when existing routes are expanded or new intercity service is created, ridership explodes," said Richards. "Clearly, people are ready for a better alternative, and trains offer a comfortable, safe and environmentally responsible way to travel."
Meredith's vision: trains to D.C....and beyond by Hawes Spencer The Hook
Lynchburg could thank its lucky stars that, about 20 years ago, CSX decided to abandon its Charlottesville rail yard. Without that old yard (now home to Lexis/Nexis and a moldering coal tower), there’s no longer any place in Charlottesville to turn a train around. Ergo, Lynchburg may find itself tossed into a new rail link to D.C.
“This is a great and ambitious step,” said Kevin Page at a meeting today at the Boar’s Head Inn. “It’s a thing we’ve never embarked on before.”
Page, a man whose office doles out millions each year to improve rail lines, revealed today that the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is working with Amtrak officials to create, by June, a proposal for a regular D.C.-to-Lynchburg train service.
Today, Central Virginia travelers now have just one or two Amtrak trains to Washington each day, and because they’re long hauls connecting New York to Chicago and New Orleans, they’re frequently late. Moreover, Amtrak– a perennially money-losing creation of the federal government– isn’t eager to sell tickets for a short leg of such a long journey, so just getting a seat can be tricky.
Page, however, has some tricks — or at least a money pot — up his sleeve. As the rail chief for the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation, he has played a key role in doling out dollars. His pot grew in 2005 after then-governor Mark Warner signed a bill dedicating $23 million annually to rail infrastructure.
Still, Page envisions that local leaders will have to explore “creative funding mechanisms.” That notion seems to warm the heart of Commonwealth Transportation Board member Butch Davies, just one of many key officials present for today’s meeting. Davies urged the approximately five dozen attendees to follow the lead of the governor and General Assembly, which created transit authorities in Tidewater and Dulles, and create a transit corridor along Route 29 with “significant taxing authority.”
If that kind of talk unsettles the general populace, which typically chafes at new taxes, the folks in this room found themselves chafed by new roads, not to mention the fact that annual auto miles are expanding much faster than the population. They see rail as an escape from gridlock.
“This is something we could do if we had the will,” said Albemarle supervisor David Slutzky. He was one of today’s speakers at the meeting convened by a group called CvilleRail.org which hopes to create a new coalition to push rail in the Piedmont.
Although speaker after speaker, including the man in charge of building a rail passenger network in North Carolina urged a high-speed link through Virginia to Washington, at least one of the invited honchos smelled a rat.
“Charlottesville is not the southernmost city in Virginia,” harrumphed Amherst County Administrator Rodney Taylor, who blasted this confab as “a Cville-centric effort to get transit between Charlottesville and Washington.”
Slutzky urged calm: “We need this to be corridor-wide.”
Indeed, long before the four-hour meeting began, organizer Meredith Richards said the same thing, that getting rail all the way down past Danville to Greensboro and Charlotte is essential to creating a viable rail network. Today’s meeting eventually became a brainstorming session as the invitees were sent away in small groups to devise strategies for garnering public support and funding.
State rail man Page said that the entire Route 29/I-66 corridor offers promise as a viable passenger rail corridor– with D.C.-to-Charlottesville as the “strongest” leg. In addition to working with Amtrak to propose that new service, his Department is also pushing additional passenger service between D.C. and Richmond and all the way to Newport News.
As Richards pointed out in her clarion call at today’s event, “the limited frequency and capacity of Amtrak service in this region does not meet the needs of many potential travelers who would choose a rail alternative if it were conveniently and reliably available.”
Anyone who’s ever ridden Amtrak’s “Cardinal” could speak about that.
Typically two, three, sometimes four hours late, the Chicago-to-New York train suffers from the fact that it’s dependent on the largesse of the Buckingham Branch and CSX, the freight railroads on whose tracks it rolls.
One of today’s speakers noted that because the freight rail business is booming, that success, ironically, has been rough on passenger rail. Freight trains now stretch up to 10,000 feet– nearly two miles– in length, so they’re harder to pass than ever.
State rail chief Page noted today that Cardinal delays should be dramatically reduced by recent completion of three new sidings west of Charlottesville that will allow the Cardinal to zip past slower freights.
This reporter got a positive jolt last December by riding the Cardinal to New York City. The thing arrived more than an hour early– about five and a half hours for what was billed as a nearly seven-hour trip. (The secret is that the long-haul train doesn’t pick up passengers north of Philly, so it’s not messing up schedules if it’s making good time.)
Thanks to Richards, Page, and CSX, which decided to leave downtown Charlottesville, Lynchburg could find itself earning a seat at the conductor’s table. Hopefully, they won’t be complaining about it.
#
11/20/2007
Rail enthusiasts courting county again Fauquier Times-Democrat
By Kelly Alm , Times-Democrat Staff Writer
Ever-increasing congestion on U.S. 29, I-66 and I-95 is making alternative transportation increasingly more attractive. CvilleRail, formally known as the Piedmont Rail Coalition, is pushing for expanded train service in the Piedmont corridor between Danville and D.C. Whether that push will produce results for Fauquier commuters, however, is no clearer now than it has been during many years' worth of discussions.
"People are fed up with traffic and $3 a gallon gas," said Meredith Richards, chairman and founder of CvilleRail. "They're looking for an alternative to driving. A train promises comfort. You can work on a train. It has amenities and live cafes. You arrive fresh."
Last Thursday, Fauquier County officials joined their peers from 11 other Piedmont counties to discuss rail possibilities at a meeting in Charlottesville. "I think it's a possibility," for Fauquier commuters, Fauquier supervisor Ray Graham said late last week. "But we can't decide until we have all the information. Within the concept of the corridor, we need to know where the benefits are for us, how it's going to impact Fauquier."
Officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation and Amtrak discussed a wide range of implications of adding more daily passenger service between Lynchburg and Washington. One obstacle train officials face is accommodating the varying needs of 15 different counties. "It's a long corridor running from the North Carolina border to Washington," Richards said. "It serves small towns, counties and cities, so there will be different benefits serving different needs." Graham is already concerned about this aspect. "The train has to travel from Danville to Charlottesville before it arrives here," he said. "If it arrives at Amherst at 4 a.m., Charlottesville at 6 a.m., when will it get to us? We need to know the number of trains and the times they will pass through...."
Competition for track use between freight and passenger trains is another issue. The train bed that runs between Charlottesville and Alexandria was once a dual track, that accommodated both freight and passenger trains. However, passenger use dropped off sharply with the coming of the interstate highway system, and Norfolk Southern removed the passenger tracks in order to avoid additional taxation. Norfolk Southern and CSX still own the tracks on which passenger trains travel, but freight trains take priority on them.
Federal efforts to move freight from highways to rails means freight traffic on those rails is heavy. According to Graham, Fauquier needs a second track if commuter rail transportation is to become a reality - and a success. "We can't have passenger trains constantly stopping to wait for freight trains," he said. "We need a second lane." The track bed is there. "It's just a matter of putting steel in the ground," Richards said. "We wouldn't need to find or clear more land."
Still other costs will play a large role in any county decision to support a rail project, Graham said. Funds for transportation are stretched to the limits in Virginia, according to Richards, but Virginia "wants to satisfy the growing demand for transportation services. "If Amtrak is willing to help, it's the cheapest and quickest way. If and when progress is made, Virginia could become the 15th state to partner with Amtrak for more intracity passenger rail service. "The time for trains has come again," Richards added. "The demand is there. We just have to find the service."
Political Notebook: Long, slow journey to better rail Charlottesville Daily Progress By Bob Gibson Bob Gibson (434) 978-7243 | bgibson@dailyprogress.com Sunday, November 18, 2007 The remark drew knowing chuckles and a guffaw or two throughout the room when North Carolina’s top rail official told an Albemarle County gathering that business people get frustrated with the inability of governments to make timely decisions. Pat Simmons, the top rail official with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, mentioned that a group of business folks in his state had soured on the slow pace of federal and state government action on high-speed rail. Government can be less than timely in its planning and follow-through action, he said. “I’d never heard that,” a local official from a county south of Lynchburg joked, prompting laughter around his table as 48 rail advocates listened to Tar Heel tales of rail revival. North Carolina has made slow but steady strides toward improving passenger rail service to the point that it entices travelers out of cars by offering a faster ride between Charlotte and Raleigh. Freight rail is on a quicker revival in the Tar Heel state and the Old Dominion thanks to its greater reliance on private funding, but public infusions of cash are helping to revive the infrastructure that freight and passenger rail need for increased service. North Carolina has closed 160 crossings of its rails to increase safety and allow trains to operate at faster speeds. Virginia has added length to its sidings to allow two-way traffic on mostly single-track routes now that freight trains are up to 10,000 feet long - nearly two miles - and need the longer siding space to let trains pass each other. Local officials from up and down the U.S. 29 corridor gathered at the Boar’s Head Inn for a Piedmont Rail Summit on Nov. 15 mostly in a good and cooperative mood for a change, since highway bypass issues had long divided some of them and taught all the number of decades it can take to kill a Charlottesville bypass. The short western bypass around Charlottesville was overtaken by sprawl so long ago as to be worthless. Its funeral may never be held, as it would take years to plan, so the joke of a bypass remains on the state’s books with barely a penny to its name. Business decisions that added sprawl moved ahead and made the road moot; there are more traffic lights north of Charlottesville all the way to Ruckersville than minutes that could be saved by building a six-mile western bypass just to hurry up a bit to sit through them. But now officials from Danville and Altavista, Lynchburg and Fauquier County are joining enthusiastic advocates of passenger rail from Charlottesville and Albemarle in talks about how to raise awareness of the benefits of reliable and enhanced passenger service throughout the corridor. Officials agreed that one sure way to reduce Virginia’s contributions to air pollution, global warming and traffic congestion is to give people realistic opportunities to catch trains instead of driving cars from city to city. With gas shooting north of $3 a gallon again and cheap urban parking a remnant of the past, passenger trains are an even more attractive alternative. The problem is who pays. A Virginia rail official said Amtrak appears willing to add one daily train between Lynchburg and Washington, serving Charlottesville and adding a more realistic schedule for those who would like to ride if the service were more frequent and reliable. Amtrak could deliver estimates on the Lynchburg train and other expanded passenger service in Virginia regarding funding needs and other data “to set forth a passenger rail plan by June,” said Kevin Page, a senior state rail planning official. Page and John J. “Butch” Davies, the Culpeper District representative on the Commonwealth Transportation Board, suggested that federal, state and local contributions could help make realistic passenger rail happen throughout the Piedmont. Davies suggested the localities up and down the Piedmont Corridor could create a transportation authority with taxing power. Albemarle and Charlottesville officials are engaged in discussions to endow a regional authority with some taxing power from the General Assembly similar to or less than what Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads have been granted. Virginia now appears likely to join North Carolina and 13 other states in partnering with Amtrak for enhanced intercity rail service, said Meredith Richards, the rail guru behind last week’s Piedmont Rail Summit. Enhanced passenger service from Danville to Lynchburg, Charlottesville and Washington is the goal of the Piedmont Rail Coalition, a group Richards helped form with support from local governments and other advocates in the region. A related group, CvilleRail, has information about the benefits possible at www.cvillerail.org <http://www.cvillerail.org>. The public is on board with enhanced rail service, so perhaps its time government got up to speed.
Railroad can make a difference
Culpeper Star-Exponent Brian Veazey
Independent columnist who lives in Culpeper
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Though it hasn’t been front-page news, our town and county belong to the Piedmont Rail Coalition. I support this effort wholeheartedly, such that I would actually give Mayor Rimeikis a ride to the meetings, if asked.
As reported recently in the Star-Exponent (Nov. 17) and the Culpeper Times (Nov. 22), the PRC is part of a larger effort to promote passenger rail service in the commonwealth.
The PRC’s focus is on the Lynchburg to D.C. line, hoping to persuade Amtrak to provide more daily service to the cites and towns on the route, where, of course, Culpeper and Charlottesville lie.
Frequent and reliable rail service between Culpeper and D.C., be it provided by Amtrak or VRE, is something I could use.
For several reasons, the timing has never been better for such an initiative: I wish it were on a national, not just a regional, scale.
The railroad is one of the greatest assets Culpeper has, but the tracks belong to the Norfolk-Southern Corporation.
In the articles I’ve read about the PRC, there has been no mention of NS, and I sincerely wonder if the PRC has any of the bigger picture.
There is much business being done between the commonwealth of Virginia and NS right now, and the PRC needs to seize the day.
The Crescent Corridor is an ambitious project announced last year by NS, which is getting on track this year with help from Richmond - $40 million worth of help.
Norfolk Southern is seeking partnerships with the various states along its routes between Louisiana and New Jersey to make improvements in its rail network and expedite freight service between major terminals at each end of the arc. As a major selling point, NS is telling the states the improvements will allow it to remove huge numbers of tractor-trailers from I-81, and thus by spending some money on rail, the states can avoid some highway costs, as well reduce congestion and pollution. The industry analysts are still arguing over exactly how much truck traffic NS can really expect to divert, but keep this in mind: per gallon of diesel fuel, a train can carry three times the payload a truck can.
In Virginia, Norfolk-Southern’s Shenandoah Line, along I-81, and its Piedmont Line, along U.S. 29 (that’s us!) are key parts of the plan. This bodes well for PRC’s goal, as the Piedmont Line is likely going to be upgraded for increased capacity, which will be needed to handle increased freight and passenger traffic.
The management at VRE is well aware of the benefits they stand to reap from the project, and are very excited. Relief on I-81 is one of the big reasons Richmond is on board with the Crescent Corridor project.
In my opinion, this is a good thing, and hopefully the money will be well spent. I’m usually not keen on such partnerships between government and private industry, preferring to let the free market sort it out. But here and now, with neglected, inadequate highway infrastructure and rising energy costs, a new approach is called for. Partnering with the rail industry to exploit the “iron highway” is that approach.
I submit that the future doesn’t lie in building ever-wider interstates, to carry ever-increasing numbers of cars and trucks, burning vast amounts of ever more expensive crude oil.
Substantially increased use of rail in the Piedmont, the state and the nation, for both freight and people, is a worthy and attainable goal. The local governments - those in the PRC - need to consider becoming partners with Richmond, NS, and Amtrak (or VRE) to make this dream a reality.
Brian Veazey is an independent columnist who lives in Culpeper. He appears Wednesday in the Star-Exponent. E-mailBVeazey99@aol.com
Officials on board for more rail Advocate: Expanded service to D.C. could happen in 2 years
Charlottesville Daily Progress By Bob Gibson bgibson@dailyprogress.com | 978-7243 Friday, November 16, 2007
Additional passenger train service through Charlottesville was pushed Thursday in Albemarle County at a gathering of advocates for expanding rail service in Piedmont Virginia.
Officials from 12 local governments in the Piedmont corridor from Danville to Warrenton heard a state rail official discuss ongoing talks between the Virginia Department of Transportation and Amtrak about adding more daily passenger service between Lynchburg and Washington.
If and when progress is made in those talks, Virginia could become the 15th state to partner with Amtrak for more intercity passenger rail service, said organizers of the Piedmont Rail Summit that 48 passenger rail advocates attended at the Boar’s Head Inn.
“I think that’s quite likely what we’re looking at,” said Meredith Richards, a former Charlottesville vice mayor who is president-elect of Virginians for High Speed Rail. She and others at the conference argued that enhanced passenger service from Washington into North Carolina makes sense for more communities but conceded a daily train to and from Lynchburg would be a helpful start.
“I think it could happen within two years,” Richards said of an additional daily train between Lynchburg and Washington. Amtrak considers the run “low-hanging fruit” it could harvest first because the federally subsidized passenger rail entity could use existing equipment from its busy nearby Northeast corridor.
Kevin Page, a senior state rail planning official, told the gathering that a north-south train through Charlottesville between Lynchburg and Washington makes sense for Amtrak because the train could turn around at Lynchburg, something not possible at Charlottesville.
“This is a great and ambitious step” for the state, said Page, rail transportation senior engineer for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. He said Amtrak could deliver estimates on the Lynchburg train and other expanded passenger service in Virginia regarding funding needs and other data “to set forth a passenger rail plan by June.”
Officials from the Danville area said they, too, are interested in expanding passenger service beyond the daily Amtrak Crescent, which rolls on its northbound schedule there before 5 a.m. if the train is close to being on time.
The summit’s attendees spent the last hour of their four-hour meeting discussing ways to advocate for enhanced rail service throughout the region. “The public is ahead of public officials” in recognizing the benefits of getting people out of cars and onto trains, Richards said. Enhanced tourism opportunities, economic development, environmental protection and an enhanced quality of life for many people who cannot drive or would choose not to are positive impacts cited by local officials who attended.
Pat Simmons, the top rail official with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, told the gathering that his state’s enhanced passenger service since 1984 has helped ridership increase by an average of 6 percent a year while cutting travel time from Raleigh to Charlotte from 203 minutes to 180.
North Carolina, one of the 14 states partnering with Amtrak for enhanced intercity service, also sponsors sold-out trains each year to the state fair, sold-out “special barbecue trains” and runs to the National Football League games in Charlotte. “We need to let the public know what we’re doing,” Simmons said of efforts in both states to take cars off crowded highways by putting more people on trains.
Enhanced passenger service along the Piedmont from at least Danville to Lynchburg, Charlottesville and Washington is the goal of the Piedmont Rail Coalition, a new group created by 16 governments and other advocates in the region. A related group, CvilleRail, has information about the group’s goals at cvillerail.org.
Passenger train service proponents attempt to bring more trains through Central Virginia
Lynchburg News-Advance By Ray Reed
rreed@newsadvance.com
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Advocates of passenger train service in the Charlottesville area launched an attempt Thursday to get localities all along the U.S. 29 corridor to unite behind their goal to bring more trains through Central Virginia. While the program’s presenters focused on advantages passenger service could bring, including economic development incentives and fewer cars on the roads, some local officials in the group wondered aloud if their communities would share in the benefits - if more trains actually appear.
“There’s regional interest in having this, so it’s going to happen,” said David Slutzky, a member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors.
Mayors and administrators from Danville, Altavista, Lynchburg, Amherst and Orange voiced interest mixed with uncertainties as they met with a group known as CvilleRail to hear reasons why the two Amtrak trains per day through Virginia’s Piedmont region need to be supplemented with additional service. Some officials wondered if the CvilleRail group’s emphasis on the north-south corridor along U.S. 29 would distract state government’s attention from the Trans-Dominion Express, a proposed passenger route from Bristol to Richmond and Washington. Lynchburg would become a hub for the routes because the tracks meet there. Mayor Rudy Burgess of Altavista noted that his town already contributes money to the state’s study of the Trans Dominion Express, and said he would need to know what Altavista would gain from supporting an effort focused on more trains for the U.S. 29 corridor. “What is the advantage to us, other than a ride?” he asked.
Slutzky said better rail service might lead businesses and industries looking for a new location to choose Altavista or another location in the Piedmont region. Amtrak doesn’t stop in Altavista, and because its boardings in Danville occur at 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., most people there don’t even know they can get on a train, Burgess and other officials said.
Meredith Richards of Charlottesville, leader of the meeting, said CvilleRail felt shut out of the state’s rail plans because the Trans Dominion Express seems to be primarily an east-west route. CvilleRail is formally known as the Piedmont Rail Coalition and includes a number of Charlottesville-area officials and rail experts. “We just want to be at the table for rail in this corridor,” Richards said.
Mike Davidson, economic development director of Campbell County, asked whether an emphasis on the U.S. 29 corridor could hurt efforts to establish the Trans Dominion Express. He and Burgess initially indicated they felt the question got a chilly response from Charlottesville-area leaders of the meeting. Brian Gleason, legislative assistant to Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg, urged the participants to focus on their common interests in getting more passenger service. “Cooperation is better than competition” when the localities are asking state officials to help improve rail service, Gleason said.
At the end of the meeting, participants agreed to keep the discussion going, and parted with a tacit acknowledgement that localities along the corridor needed to form coalitions with each other and within their communities so that each could become a stronger advocate for its interests. “That’s extremely important,” Richards said.
Charlottesville and Lynchburg officials said they’re waiting eagerly for results of a study Amtrak is doing on the costs and potential benefits of adding another train daily that would run between Washington and Lynchburg. Results are expected by May.
Kevin Page, of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said that if the train Amtrak is studying were to go into service, it would not go further south toward Danville. Lynchburg is one of the few locations where a train can be turned around and parked overnight, Page said.
