(The following editorial appeared on The News & Advance website on October 10, 2010.)
LYNCHBURG, Va. — This past Thursday, there was an important first birthday celebrated in the Hill City: the one-year anniversary of the first running of the new Lynchburg-to-Washington Amtrak train.
It was a year ago that Amtrak and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation inaugurated the daily train from Lynchburg to the nation’s capital with much fanfare, high hopes and more than a few fingers crossed behind folks’ backs.
The dream of more passenger rail opportunities had been floating around in Central and Southwestern Virginia business and political circles for more than a decade.
Rex Hammond, president of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, had been beating the drum almost from his first day on the job in an attempt to get passenger rail on the agendas of local business and political leaders. The enthusiasm was there from the start, but few folks honestly, deep in their heart of hearts, believed the dream would ever become reality.
Over time, though, the stars began to align, signaling a new opportunity for passenger rail in the state.
During her two terms in the House of Delegates, former Del. Shannon Valentine played a key role in bringing together state officials and local leaders in an effort to build support for the train. Her efforts, and those of her colleagues in the Central Virginia delegation to the General Assembly, paid off in 2008 when then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine included money in the state budget for two new passenger rail lines. One from Richmond to Washington and the other from Lynchburg to the nation’s capital, the pilot program was the first major investment in rail service by the commonwealth in more than a decade.
Success, as the old saying goes, has many fathers; failure is an orphan. There were few people back then who would unequivocably say passenger rail from Lynchburg would be a success.
But that’s how it is turning out.
Officials conservatively estimated there would be 51,000 passengers the first year. In only 10 months, more than 103,000 passengers had boarded the Lynchburg/Washington train. Planners estimated first-year revenues for the local line would be almost $2.6 million; as of July 31, the tally was at $5.23 million.
Sure, it’s not a futuristic MagLev or TGV high-speed train line. Sure, the trip to Washington’s Union Station with connections to the rest of the Northeast Corridor takes about three hours.
Those aren’t weaknesses; only hurdles to overcome in the future.
What the passenger line represents is Central Virginia’s first direct link to the Northeast Corridor. In future years as the service grows and modernizes, thinking of this part of the Old Dominion as an extension of the Northeast Corridor will be second-nature.
The social, economic and demographic changes that will ensue from that sea-change in thinking are of vital importance to us all.