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New Virginia Train Shows What’s Possible With Cooperation
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Yesterday’s Washington-Lynchburg inaugural special, in advance of revenue service starting today, follows 2-1/2 years of hard work and cooperation by state, local, Norfolk Southern and Amtrak officials. Gov. Tim Kaine (D) gets a huge share of the credit, another reminder of the critical importance of having a governor who believes in passenger trains. Hailing Forbes’ ranking of Virginia as “Best State to do Business” for the fourth consecutive year, Kaine said “the expanded service will support economic growth and benefit the environment by taking more cars off the road, improving air quality, and saving fuel.”
Kaine spoke at Charlottesville and Lynchburg [video]. At both stations he followed his father-in-law—former Governor (and former Amtrak Board Member) Linwood Holton (R), the man who 2-1/2 years ago told the Virginia Transportation Board, “You can do this.” Virigina Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer spoke at the earlier stations. There were impressive crowds at all six Virginia stations.
Reflecting the increasingly positive relationship between Amtrak and host railroads, NS Chairman & President Wick Moorman and Amtrak President & CEO Joe Boardman spoke at all the stations. Moorman said, “We’re delighted to partner with Amtrak and their fine team. Amtrak and NS have conversations, we have some tough conversations, but we recognize at the end of the day that it’s a partnership. Norfolk Southern is proud to have worked closely with the Commonwealth and Amtrak to provide this new service.”
Boardman spoke in a similar vein, complimenting NS on a dramatic improvement in their dispatching of Amtrak trains.
The new service is strongly supported by on-line chambers of commerce which long have been working together to create travel products based on train travel. The train is viewed by many as the first step in extension of service to Roanoke and Bristol, the “Trans-Dominion Express,” something that the governor referred to.
The train also should help Amtrak’s Crescent as many shorter distance travelers shift to the new train, freeing up space for more longer trips on the Crescent. The platform was lengthened at Lynchburg which means Crescent won’t have to double-stop there anymore. Lynchburg station costs now are shared among two trains rather than shouldered by Crescent alone, and Crescent’s share of costs at the other jointly served stations will decline. And Crescent should benefit from the added flexibility that makes train travel more practical for more people, and the greater visibility that Crescent gets from people drawn to the stations by the new train. As for example, “Oh, a trip to Atlanta by train? Maybe I’ll try that next time.”
Click “Read More” to see photos of the inaugural run.
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, charlottesville, inaugural, joseph boardman, lynchburg, new train, northeast regional, passenger train, tim kaine, virginia, wick moorman,NARP’s Warning About Amtrak Shut-Down Bill Echoes Across the U.S.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Furor over a House transportation spending bill budget that would force a shutdown of the entire Amtrak system—and which explicitly attacks short corridor passenger train service across the U.S.—has spread in the days following last week’s disclosure of the draft-bill’s details.
The GOP-led House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation & Housing on September 8 approved a fiscal year 2012 spending bill that would slash Amtrak’s operating grant by 60 percent, prohibit the use of federal operating dollars to fund operating expenses for state-supported routes, and zeroes-out the High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Program.
In an effort led in large part by NARP, transportation groups and media outlets across America are warning the public about the very real threat this budget proposal poses to hundreds of passenger trains across the country:
- NARP’s Action page lets you reach out directly to your Representative and let them know you support trains in America;
- Streetsblog picks up NARP’s warning about the shut-down budget;
- The Albany Times-Union quotes NARP Board Member (and President of the Empire State Passengers Association) Bruce Becker in saying the bill would be “devastating for New York.” The Times-Union also publishes an illustrative Amtrak map of the corridor trains targeted by the bill. [You can also see an Amtrak PDF listing corridor trains];
- The Longview News-Journal speaks with NARP Vice-President Sean Jeans-Gail about a worst case scenario, and how the bill would undermine the transportation improvement efforts of “hundreds of communities”;
- The Kansas City Business Journal looks at the danger to service in Missouri;
- The Baltimore Sun’s editorial board calls the budget proposal a “short-sighted assault on passenger rail”;
- The Charlottesville Daily Progress in Virginia mocks the logic behind killing successful short intercity corridors like the recently launched Lynchburg-Washington, D.C train (which also serves Charlottesville) that has been selling-out trains since its inauguration.
| Image: Amtrak, via Albany Times-Union |
Posted by NARP
Tags: albany, amtrak, appropriations, baltimore, bruce becker, charlottesville, kansas, missouri, narp, sean jeans-gail, short corridors, streetsblog,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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