(The Associated Press circulated the following article on January 23.)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Freight railroad CSX Transportation is working to improve passenger rail service for Virginia Railway Express and its riders.
CSX, which owns the tracks that carry VRE’s Fredericksburg line, has for the first time appointed a liaison to work with the commuter line. The short-term goal is to provide more information faster about delays on the VRE, said Jay Westbrook, a CSX assistant vice president who will spearhead the effort.
Westbrook will report to a CSX executive in Jacksonville, Fla., but will spend most of his time in Washington and Richmond, working to improve train performance.
“I think the close communication is going to help us,” Elaine McConnell, chairwoman of the VRE Operations Board, told The (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star. “We sometimes wonder if the people in Jacksonville know what’s happening.”
The appointment follows a year marked by significant delays for Fredericksburg-line riders and was made just before a VRE derailment Jan. 5 that closed the busy rail corridor for about 14 hours.
Frustration over delays that sometimes stranded passengers on trains for hours boiled over last summer when VRE Chief Executive Officer Dale Zehner fired off an angry letter to CSX, complaining that some delays should have been avoided.
To help solve the problem, CSX has adjusted its construction schedule to perform track work later in the evening after VRE trains have carried most passengers home. The company will also notify VRE of potential track problems sooner so that VRE can notify passengers.
Flexibility in the CSX construction schedule is a dramatic change, said VRE spokesman Mark Roeber. In the past, VRE was forced to work around CSX.
Demand for food and products shipped by freight rail will only increase as the Washington area continues to expand, along with demand for passenger service, said CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan.
The company plans to advocate for construction of a third track between Washington and Richmond to ease congestion. CSX has asked VRE’s board for its support to secure funding for the project.
“The idea is to say, ‘This is not a case of passenger versus freight.’ It can’t be,” Sullivan said. “It has to be a case of passenger and freight” working together.