(The Richmond Times-Dispatch posted the following article by Chip Jones on its website on April 22.)
RICHMOND, Va. — Amtrak’s morning trains from Washington to Richmond will arrive a little later starting next week, a switch that could affect ridership at the city’s renovated Main Street Station this summer.
Starting Monday, Amtrak is scratching its Twilight Shoreliner service that originated in Boston and ended in Newport News. Along the way, it made an early morning stop in Washington, arrived in Richmond at 8:30 and continued on to Newport News, arriving at 10:30 a.m.
Changing trains
Amtrak is changing part of its Richmond-to-Newport News line, which is vital to the city’s renovation of Main Street Station. Among the schedule changes:
The earliest train from Washington will arrive in Richmond at 10:05 a.m. instead of 8:30.
The afternoon train that departs Newport News at 5 p.m. will now depart at 2:45 p.m. and will leave Richmond at 4:25 p.m.
“It was the first train in from Washington,” said Michael Jerew, Amtrak’s district manager in Virginia.
Under the new schedule, the first train arriving from Washington’s Union Station to Amtrak’s Staples Mill Station outside Richmond will arrive at 10:05 a.m.
The switch worries some rail advocates who would like to see timely morning service that is friendly to business travelers.
“I don’t see it as anything sinister,” said Richard Beadles, a board member for Virginians for High-Speed Rail, a rail advocacy group.
Amtrak, which has been financially strapped for years, “is just trying to manage its revenues and cost. But it leaves us here in Richmond with slightly less-attractive service.”
Besides the later morning service, Amtrak is also revising its afternoon schedule from Newport News. The Twilight Shoreliner used to leave Newport News at 5 p.m. and provided late afternoon service through Richmond to Washington.
The new train will leave Newport News at 2:45 p.m. and leave Richmond for Washington at 4:25 p.m. The exotic-sounding Twilight Shoreliner name will be retired; the new train will be No. 77.
Amtrak’s Richmond-to-Newport News trains are vital to the city’s $48.2 million renovation of Main Street Station, whose opening has been postponed from April to early June, according to Jerew.
The city has been counting on Amtrak running at least four trains per day through downtown Richmond.
Richmond’s offices were closed yesterday for a holiday, and city officials could not be reached for comment.
Amtrak will continue to offer other trains each day between Staples Mill Station and Washington.
Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel said the Twilight Shoreliner was scrapped “mainly to get overnight service on an improved schedule” from Boston to Washington. The new train, called The Federal, should operate more efficiently by turning around in Washington, instead of continuing south to Richmond and Newport News, he said.
Stessel said Amtrak balanced its overall ridership needs against those of the potential market of Main Street Station.
Amtrak is adding a stop in Northern Virginia that could prove attractive to business and government riders. Stessel said trains will stop at Franconia/Springfield in Fairfax County, providing access to the Washington Metro subway.