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.

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The Supervisors passed a resolution supporting the Amtrak route at a meeting last month.  Page explained several aspects of the proposed “business class” passenger train service to the Board:

1. Amtrak has proposed adding one train each direction to the Lynchburg route to provide service to Washington, DC.  Trips between Charlottesville and Washington would run between 2 hours and 17 minutes and 2 hours and 27 minutes;
2. Departures from Charlottesville would be in the morning.  Trains would leave Lynchburg at 5:00 AM and return from Washington, DC departing at 5:00 PM;
3. Lynchburg, VA is needed as an end point on the route because it has a turn-around facility for the engine (two “Y-tracks” for three point turns);
4. Adding the Lynchburg route is heavily dependent on the availability of slots in the NE rail corridor North of Washington to New York since the train would continue past Washington, DC;
5. Inclusion of the Lynchburg route in the State Rail Plan is still a matter under review.  The Richmond-Newport News corridor is also under consideration as an alternative; and
6. An operational agreement will be required between the owner of the tracks, Norfolk Southern, with Virginia and Amtrak.

Page said he understood there was strong interest from the Board of Supervisors for the new passenger rail route and he commented that he had just learned in the meeting that 1,000 defense jobs were being relocated to Charlottesville in the next couple of years.  "If there is a potential for greater ridership, and a connectivity, again it gets back to the transit oriented development communities," said Page.

"We are not only looking for a rail system, we are looking for a transportation system.  If we are going to get people out of their cars and onto buses and trains, we have to have the connectivity. What I have heard today is that Albemarle County is moving forward with a strategy and a vision...as to how Charlottesville can be more of what we call a pedestrian, transit-friendly community and have those transit oriented developments in place. Obviously enhancing passenger rail is going to have a role in that."

The Statewide Rail Plan is scheduled to be finalized in October 2008.  DRPT will take public comment on the draft plan in July 2008.

Brian Wheeler

Comments

[tomr]

I'm curious as to why a Newport News link would be more used than the Lynchburg route. The corridor from Culpeper to DC is already heavily clogged with commuters and the aforementioned federal jobs coming to Cville would seem to provide some decent traffic, not to mention UVa and four schools in Lynchburg. Lynchburg also has a good number of DoD and DoE jobs with B&W and Areva. Hopefully, the need for major improvements to the NN corridor will steer funding our way; this new train would provide a better economic stimulus to the corridor than highway improvements based on the way the economy seems to be headed.

[Brian Wheeler]

Tom - I believe it has to do with the population and potential ridership running down I-95 and I-64. When the resolution was before the Board last month, the Piedmont Environmental Council mentioned the following:

Jeff Werner of the Piedmont Environmental Council urged the Board to reconsider their support, and said the PEC felt the other route would provide more benefit to a more densely populated portion of the Virginia.

“We’ve long argued to the state that commuter rail and rail has to address where the population of the state lives and where it’s going to and from, and that is the I-95 corridor,” Werner said. He said the PEC is not against passenger rail for Charlottesville, but that I-95 route should be fixed first.

Brian Wheeler, Charlottesville Tomorrow

[tomr]

I would think that there are many more commuters to DC from Culpeper than from Williamsburg and NN combined. Many quarrel about upgrading US 29, but whether in Cville or Lynchburg, traffic issues on 29 pale in comparison to the 29 corridor traffic from Culpeper to I-66. There has been much more expansion of the DC metro area along the 29 corridor than along the I-95 corridor south of Massaponax. In regards to NN ridership, is the current regional train to DC and north that starts in NN full? I would probably see the point that Werner makes if the current passenger service is use to capacity. If the train is underused, and officials are simply speculating that ridership will be boosted by additional service, I would say that there is more of a chance of increased ridership along the crescent corridor, where our service is best suited to leisure travel because of the inconsistent departure times that are frequent as the trains goes further north. As a side note, it is pretty interesting that Chevy Chase bank has a branch in Cville and several along the 29 corridor; there are none south of Fredricksburg. I think business knows where the people are better than the bureaucrats or the PEC. I would imagine that a DC regional bank is careful about where it invests, and they seem to choose the 29 corridor. Maybe Jeff ought to look a bit deeper into the data before he poo-poos an add'l mode of transport along 29. He could even use it as an extra weapon against the supporters of an upgraded 29 through the state!

[Jim Kovach]

Do we know what stops might be included in a line from Lynchburg to DC? Is it conceivable that this line's schedule might be extended if successful? There has been some talk amongst colleagues that a commuter line to outlying counties would be tremendously appealing to those that have traditionally been priced-out of the C-ville housing market (myself included). An Orange or Gordonsville stop would be a boon for residents that commute in to Charlottesville, and would likewise be tremendously beneficial for those town's economies.

[Brian Wheeler]

Jim - Mr. Page said that Amtrak was proposing 6 stops on the route from Lynchburg to Washington. They are shown as dots on the map in this post and include: Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas, then 2 additional stops closer in to DC. Brian Wheeler