The Need for Expanded Rail Service Grows

With the General Assembly stymied over how to pay for a $1.1 billion shortfall for transportation, a proposal to add rail passenger service from Lynchburg to Washington, D.C., makes more sense every day.

Representatives of localities along the Piedmont Rail Corridor held news conferences earlier this week to show demand for the rail line and to drum up support for the $1.9 million it would cost the state annually. That’s a paltry sum considering that the same amount of money wouldn’t even cover the construction costs of a decent highway interchange these days.

Amtrak has proposed the line, which would make daily runs from Lynchburg to Washington and back with stops in Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas and Alexandria. An Amtrak study estimates the line would serve 33,000 passengers in its first year.

The proposed daily Amtrak line would leave Lynchburg at or about 5 a.m. and arrive at D.C.’s Union Station at or about 8:40 a.m. Southbound, the train would leave Washington around 5 p.m. daily and arrive in Lynchburg by 8:30 p.m. It would layover here for servicing, according to Amtrak’s report.

Lynchburg has had a 50 percent increase in ridership between 2004 and 2007 on the current Amtrak passenger train that travels through the city on its way from New York to New Orleans. But local officials along the route say that train is rarely on time and that tickets are tough to get.

Meredith Richards, head of the Piedmont Rail Coalition promoting the new passenger service, said the trains coming through Charlottesville “are typically booked solid.”

In a recent letter she wrote to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on behalf of the coalition, Richards said that Amtrak has recommended the new service be implemented “as soon as possible.” She added that the Piedmont corridor service “would be very cost effective and could have a major impact on transportation in Virginia.”

Amtrak has identified the Piedmont region as the most under served in the state as far as rail passenger service is concerned.

At Lynchburg’s news conference on Monday, Vice Mayor Bert Dodson said “there’s a groundswell of support for this. It’s up and down U.S. 29.”

Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg, called rail an important part of the state’s transportation solution and said she was anticipating completion of a new statewide rail study. The preliminary results of that study are expected to be released later this month.

“The rail system,” Valentine said, “is economically sound and environmentally sound. It’s part of the solution to our energy crisis” and our transportation crisis.

Putting more people on trains and getting their vehicles off the highway not only conserves gasoline, but it saves wear and tear on the roads, something the state is having an increasingly tough time paying for.

Dodson suggested at the news conference here that the proposed line could ultimately attract more people to Lynchburg. He said that telecommuters could live here and use the train to travel to Washington and its suburbs in Northern Virginia.

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 highways.

The Piedmont Rail Coalition has been on the right track for some time now. It’s time for the legislature to get on board to make the rail transportation alternative available to Lynchburg and the rest of the Piedmont corridor.