Expanded Rail Service Hinges on State Subsidy
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The News & Advance
Published: June 2, 2008
With the cost of gasoline reaching levels that few thought possible, the demand for mass transit is growing along with those frightful prices. Expanded passenger rail service for the region could be part of the new mass transit system if the state can find the money.
City Council has joined a growing list of communities along the U.S. 29 corridor that see the benefits of having Amtrak service expanded from one to two trains daily. The council unanimously approved a resolution last week urging the state to support a new passenger train that would begin in Lynchburg and travel to Washington daily.
The new line, which would travel on Norfolk Southern tracks, was first proposed by Amtrak. It has since been endorsed by a dozen communities, with more expected.
Vice Mayor Bert Dodson is enthusiastic about the prospect of getting the expanded rail service. “We have a real jewel as far as transit goes,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for Lynchburg to really shine.”
Amtrak currently operates a train that runs through Lynchburg and neighboring communities once a day as it travels from New York to New Orleans. But that train is often full and has a sketchy record of being on time.
The Amtrak study identified the entire U.S. 29 corridor as an underserved area and recommended that the new train be put in place as soon as possible.
The plan hinges on state funding with a subsidy of $1.9 million that has been requested. It will take some lobbying to get that money from the state, said Meredith Richards, a representative of the Piedmont Rail Coalition. “We all know how things go in Richmond,” she told the council members.
The rail coalition includes regional governments, business interests and other organizations that have been laying the ground work for the expanded rail service.
Explaining the need for the new train, which would be housed in Lynchburg overnight, Richards said, “Not only are (the current trains) often late, they’re typically full and very difficult to get a seat on. What this tells us is we have a high ridership community, but we don’t have the service.”
Dodson has said that one good reason for the second daily train 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 predicts the new train would have 33,000 riders the first year.
The $1.9 million subsidy from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation would be a sound investment in mass transit for Central Virginia and other localities along the U.S. 29 corridor.
In the long run, more mass transit will reduce the demand for gas — and the foreign oil from which it is refined. And when that happens, gasoline prices will drop. The state subsidy for expanded rail passenger service could be a small step in that direction.
The region’s representatives in the House of Delegates and state Senate should use their influence in an effort to secure that subsidy and get the rail service going.
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Posted by ( bigjimm ) on June 05, 2008 at 8:26 am
A horse and buggy? Well no, but I do know where to find a horse’s ass so a horse has to be there somewhere. Right?
Oh well, yes I’m interested in public transport but I could not care less about going to Washington and points north.
I would love to see the money spent locally so that people could ride to work or to shop in some reasonable time frame. Money spent on another train to Washington is the same as money wasted.
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Posted by ( Fred ) on June 04, 2008 at 11:11 am
A recent article in the N&A;contained the following: “Fixing the U.S. passenger railroad system is probably the one project we could undertake right away that would have the greatest impact on the country’s oil consumption. The fact that we’re not talking about it—especially in the presidential campaign—shows how confused we are. The airline industry is disintegrating under the enormous pressure of fuel costs. Airlines cannot fire any more employees and have already offloaded their pension obligations and outsourced their repairs. At least five small airlines have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past two months. If we don’t get the passenger trains running again, Americans will be going nowhere five years from now,“
bigjimm has a horse (and buggy?) so he does not give a damn about public transportation!
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Posted by ( avillage ) on June 04, 2008 at 9:13 am
What I’m saying is that I favor rail transportation and any other form of mass ground transit over cars. And, it doesn’t matter if I or anyone else rides it once a day, month, or year…it is the total ridership per day that counts. If the train meets ridership needs, that’s all that counts. Anyone who rides rail is keeping their car off the road and not using fuel.
One of the problems in the environmental movement and its many aspects including mass transit to replace cars is that we always play on the field of economics. This isn’t all about the cost of fuel or dollar savings to the family. That kind of system is set up by free market enterprise without ethics, one that relegates any environmental solutions to second place if they can’t be economically viable. Maybe its time to ask, what is viable? More cars? More sprawl? More consumerism? If we can get off that playing field, maybe paying more for a solution like mass transit is appropriate. I mean, someone has to buy the first fuel efficient or better productive anything to get it going.
And, I am in agreement that trains need to better meet schedules and be modernized, more efficient.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on June 03, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Come on (avillage), use your head. You going to ride every day? You going to commute? The damn ticket will not only cost MORE than the gas but NOBODY is going to use this except to take the kids to see a museum once a year or so. This solves nothing! $1.9 million to accomplish what? People need to get to C-ville, Roanoke, airports, Richmond, Charlotte… AND on a regular basis. Add up the price of a ticket for you and 4 kids. At $15 a gallon it will still be cheaper to drive.
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Posted by ( m.paul.valois ) on June 03, 2008 at 10:53 am
The Amtrak trains are almost never on time, are staffed with extremely discourteous personnel, and are ridiculously expensive.
Expanded rail service is great idea. Amtrak isn’t.
How many riders do you think will take the train to and from Lynchburg on average every day? A dozen? Twenty? Thirty?
Let’s be crazy generous and say that fifty people will ride the train every day each way.
1.9 million dollars is $5205 PER DAY. Do the math yourself.
Lynchburg could send a bus full of fifty-five passengers to and from DC each day for FREE consuming $400 in fuel assuming 6 mpg (low) and diesel at $6 per gallon(high) paying a driver a good wage (say $200 a trip) covering insurance and maintenance (say another $600-crazy high) and end up saving taxpayers $4000 per day over this silly Amtrak plan.
For the money proposed, Virginia could run a fleet of a half a dozen buses providing FREE daily round trip service to DC and transporting more than three hundred people a day. For FREE.
Do you think that expanded train service is actually going to move three hundred extra people a day? If so, head down to the Amtrak station and do a head count for a reality check.
I can’t understand why the News $ Advance doesn’t do the math before it takes a silly position like this.
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Posted by ( bigjimm ) on June 03, 2008 at 10:13 am
Here is my question for you rail transport gurus: How many people will this benefit? How many people in Lynchburg TODAY would ride a train in that direction on a regular basis? How will this help our economy now?
In the 1950’s the strategic decision was made to build an interstate highway system. The die was set. How would another train on this 19th century track improve our economy?
Lynchburg should work to improve it’s own public transport system and put it’s money there instead of pushing this dead duck.
Perhaps more trains could be used to move locally or regionally grown produce into Lynchburg to feed the population. The days of affordable produce being driven from California and Mexico or even Florida are going to end sooner rather than later.
A plan to provide transport for people looking to use Lynchburg as a bedroom community seems to be pretty limited.
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Posted by ( avillage ) on June 03, 2008 at 9:00 am
In reading the notes from Cosmo and bigjimm, I don’t understand their logic.
The US has areas where mass transit works extremely well and areas where mass transit is less efficient. Eastern VA and a Piedmont corridor makes complete sense to me. The population centers and the current ridership are significant reasons that another train makes sense. And, trains through Lynchburg help our economy.
Cosmo notes that the train took four hours to Washington. Ok, a car takes at least 3.5 hours on a good, low traffic day. So, a riding a train is about the same time and far less fuel per person. I’d do it in a second if fares are reasonable. Schedules, of course, are important and sticking to an on-time schedule must improve.
Remember, the only reason trains don’t flourish today is because a smart pro-car lobby was able to reduce subsidies for trains in the early 20th century in order to boost their own corporations.
I’m pro-train and pro reduced car driving miles. Cars are one of the foundational causes of urban sprawl (rather, dramatic increased driving miles and numbers of cars owned) and are also foundational problems in the wanton use of energy. Time to change.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on June 03, 2008 at 8:22 am
You are a THINKER (bigjimm) and I like that! Your idea is a winner if I ever heard one. No doubt the big brains down at city hall will jump on it. You work out a way to keep Atheists, gay people and members of the ACLU from riding and nothing can stop this. Oh, and everybody should be armed, to guard against terrorists too.
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Posted by ( bigjimm ) on June 03, 2008 at 6:07 am
What Lynchburg really needs Mr. Dodson is more of a boutique, luxury train offering upscale government workers a place to sleep in Lynchburg’s historic downtown. It will then pull out each morning and carry them in luxury to Washington and then return them the same afternoon.
The club car, where cold, overpriced food is served will be named after a longtime shoe manufacturer and will be appropriately named The Sweatshop Grill and the train itself will be called The Shoe Leather Express.
No state money will be needed as Lynchburg has plenty for any and all ridiculous ideas.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on June 03, 2008 at 4:39 am
Are these people crazy? You know, I read this article and then I got up to splash cold water on my face because I thought my eyes were deceiving me. Get a load of this! ..[“Vice Mayor Bert Dodson is enthusiastic about the prospect of getting the expanded rail service. We have a real jewel as far as transit goes, he said. This is a great opportunity for Lynchburg to really shine.“] Oh it’s a “real jewel” alright. A four hour long, never on time, stinking piece of yesterdays technology. I can’t wait to talk to Bert about my idea to reintroduce pole boats on the James River to provide an opportunity for people to commute to Richmond. I’m sure for a couple of million in grant money I can REALLY make Lynchburg shine. Are these people ever drug tested. I’m thinking it would be a good idea.
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