Celebrating the Start of New Amtrak Line

After several years of negotiating with Amtrak and the state rail agency, the date for a second passenger train from Lynchburg to Washington, D.C., has been set.

For those who have been looking forward to the second train, to be known as the Northeast Regional, news of the scheduled trip was greeted with cheers. The train is scheduled to make its maiden run beginning at 7:38 a.m. Oct. 1. It will return to the city by about 8:30 p.m. for a round-trip fare of $58.

Despite the good news about the new schedule, some grumbling could be heard in Charlottesville over the later than anticipated start for the train. When it comes to transportation issues, it seems, there’s always some grumbling in Charlottesville.

Business groups in Charlottesville had hoped for an earlier start to accommodate business travelers to the nation’s capital. In a letter to Rex Hammond, president of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, Charlottesville rail advocate Meredith Richards said the schedule will “effectively eliminate day travel for business purposes to Washington, D.C.”

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Despite the departure time, Hammond said the additional train is an asset for Central Virginia that should be celebrated.

Amtrak currently operates a train that runs through Lynchburg and neighboring communities once a day as it travels from New York to New Orleans and back. But that train is often full and has a sketchy record of being on time. The northbound Crescent departs Lynchburg at 6:07 a.m. and arrives in Washington at 10:10 a.m., according to Amtrak’s Web site. The Crescent’s evening trip from Washington arrives in Lynchburg at about 10 p.m.

Richards is president of the Charlottesville-based Piedmont Rail Coalition, which has worked with leaders in the Lynchburg area to urge Amtrak to launch the rail passenger service. The coalition has also worked with state officials to provide supplemental funding to get the rail service going.

In a letter to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation in January 2008, Amtrak said it thought the train could depart about 5 a.m., arriving in Washington before 9 a.m. That would be ideal for business travelers needing a full day in Washington.

The actual schedule, as Richards has pointed out, “is far different from the proposed schedule.” She acknowledged that the southbound schedule arriving in Lynchburg about 8:30 p.m. and potentially carrying passengers from New York and Washington “will certainly benefit the tourism and hospitality industry.”

But tourism and family travel already accounts for most of the Crescent passengers’ trips.

It’s the business traveler that the new train is hoping to attract. But all is not lost. Business and government officials from Lynchburg and Charlottesville can work together to see how they can make the best use of the new train service. If there’s room some change to the schedule, perhaps that can be made to better accommodate business travelers who need a full day in Washington.

In the meantime, Hammond is right. Let’s celebrate the new passenger rail service by keeping the train full as often as possible when it pulls out of the Amtrak station on Kemper Street.