Lynchburg leaders call for new train route

Lynchburg leaders call for new train route


Merry Meet ALL--I hate driving to DC--especially since they have such a good metro system once you are there that takes you just about anywhere you'd like to go. Being a "mostly green Pagan" who spent a bit of time in the UK, I learned that in Scotland and Ireland, few folks have a car and the train and the bus go everywhere. I think we need this here in Lynchburg and I encourage all of you to write to the paper, your representatives on the town council and just be heard about this new issue. Just think--Pagan special interest bus and train trips to local sights--this could open a new occupation for someone who was interested in group educational trips to say the Smithsonian when there was a special interest to Pagans display--or even the annual "folk festival!" The opportunities are endless.
Blessed BE!
Paula

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Lynchburg leaders call for new train route

By Alicia Petska

Published: July 7, 2008

Regional leaders renewed their calls for added train service Monday in anticipation of the release of a new statewide plan that will lay out the future of Virginia rail.

Lynchburg area officials gathered at the Kemper Street Station to highlight the need for a new route that would provide direct passenger service to the Lynchburg-D.C. corridor.

Similar events were held simultaneously at train stations in Charlottesville and Culpeper, emphasizing the project’s strong regional backing.

“There’s a ground swell of support for this,” Vice Mayor Bert Dodson said at the Lynchburg news conference. “It’s up and down (U.S. 29).”

Dodson said current train service in the region remains “woefully lacking,” despite the area’s continued growth. He cited “little or no” state investment in the corridor, difficulty in securing train tickets for local riders, and shoddy on-time performance as some of the deficiencies.

A total of 21 governing bodies have signed onto the campaign to expand regional train service as part of the Piedmont Rail Coalition, which is focused on landing a new U.S. 29 passenger line.

Endorsing communities include Lynchburg and its four surrounding counties, as well as the Charlottesville and Culpeper areas. The proposed route, which was first recommended by Amtrak, would start in Lynchburg and provide daily service to D.C. and back.

The news conference at the Kemper Street Station, which is currently served by one daily passenger train, included representatives from Lynchburg, Campbell County, Region 2000 and the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg, was also in attendance. She called rail an important part of the state’s transportation solution and was anticipating the completion of a new statewide rail study, the preliminary results of which will be released later this month.

“We’re not going to get out of where we are today by only building roads,” Valentine said.

“The rail system is economically sound and environmentally sound. It’s part of the solution to our energy crisis” and our transportation crisis, she said.

The rail study — scheduled to be released in draft form this month and finalized next month — will establish both short-term and long-term goals for improving Virginia’s train system.

Amtrak heavily recommended the Lynchburg-D.C. route in a report earlier this year, but Valentine cautioned that support doesn’t assure the project will be at the top of the state’s final list.

If approved, the new line would require $1.9 million in annual government subsidies, according to Amtrak projections.

Dodson said Monday’s region-wide events were part of an effort to keep the issue on the state’s “radar screen” as the transportation debate moves forward.

No further events are expected in the immediate future. Lynchburg officials said they would await the results of the rail study before deciding on their next course of action.

The regional rail coalition sent a letter to the governor last week urging the route’s approval.

Lynchburg to D.C. Service

- The sole passenger train currently serving Lynchburg is tardy roughly one-third of the time, a record regional officials call “miserable.” A new train operating exclusively in the Piedmont region would be on time 95 percent of the time, according to supporters.

- Amtrak estimates an added line would serve 33,000 people in its first year.

- The requested route represents one leg of the larger TransDominion Express project, which has been the subject of six studies over the past 12 years.