Funds approved for Lynchburg-D.C. train

RICHMOND — Lynchburg’s second daily train to Washington got its funding Friday through an approval from the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

The train could start operating in October.

It was a “monumental decision,” said Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg.

“The funding piece is, without a doubt, the most significant” part of negotiations that include the state government, Amtrak and three railroads, said Meredith Richards, of Charlottesville, president of the Piedmont Rail Coalition.

Still to be worked out are contracts involving CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., which own most of the tracks the trains would use.

Amtrak, which owns the trains, and the Virginia Railway Express, a commuter line in Northern Virginia whose schedules could be affected, also have key roles in the deals.

Once those matters are ironed out, planners can get down to deciding when the train would leave the station, and return. The basic concept at this point is that it would leave in the morning and return that night.

Currently, one Amtrak train per day passes through Lynchburg, heading toward Washington at 6 a.m. and returning at 10 p.m. according to its schedule.

The funding consists of $17.2 million that will, for the next three years, operate two daily Amtrak trains. One will serve the Lynchburg-to-Washington route, with stops in Charlottesville and Culpeper. The other train will serve a Richmond-to-Washington route.

William S. Pittard, acting director of Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said the funding covers operations for three years as a demonstration project to test the effectiveness of added passenger rail service.

During that time, DRPT will look for permanent sources of the subsidy funding that the rail service is expected to require, Pittard said.

“We’ll take a look at ridership” during the three years, Pittard said. “Studies show the need is there, but you never know how it’s going to work out until you put the plan into action.”

The Commonwealth Transpor-tation Board, which sets the state’s transportation policy, approved the rail funding Friday as part of a rare mid-year cut-back in Virginia’s six-year transportation plan.

Rail funding was the only part of Virginia’s transportation program that didn’t suffer a cut.

The board acted on short notice Friday in order to qualify the state’s highway and other trans-portation projects to possibly receive funds from the federal stimulus package to be signed on Monday by President Barack Obama.

The board had been scheduled to approve the six-year plan next Wednesday.

Whatever stimulus funds the state receives will not be enough to offset the cuts made Friday in the six-year plan, said Pierce Homer, state secretary of transportation.

The six-year plan approved Friday was a $2 billion reduction from a plan the board approved last fall, with most of the cuts coming from highway construc-tion. About 800 road-building projects were axed.

Maintenance, particularly for bridges, is sustained in the plan as required by state law.

Homer said the six-year plan may need to go back into revi-sion again after the state receives updated revenue figures next week.

“We are in free fall” on revenues, Homer said.

Lynchburg’s Kemper Street Station will need some improvements to a currently unused section of platform and track to provide a place to park the train overnight, said DRPT spokes-woman Jennifer Pickett.

Also, DRPT is working with Amtrak to get an engine and some passenger cars rehabilitated so it can equip the two new trains.

Parking the train overnight in Lynchburg assures it will “leave on time every morning,” Pickett said.

Virginia’s cost share of $8 mil-lion for the equipment upgrades will come from previously allocated rail-program funds, Pickett said.