(The following story by Chip Jones appeared on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website on September 30.)
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s top public rail official yesterday said she was “disappointed and frustrated” with CSX Corp. for delaying a $65.7 million upgrade of the rail system between Richmond and Washington.
The improvements are a cornerstone of the state’s efforts to make Amtrak more reliable and faster between the capital cities. Better service, in turn, is considered key to luring passengers back to Richmond’s reopened Main Street Station.
“Why isn’t the railroad spending the $65 million?” asked Karen J. Rae, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation at a conference at Main Street Station.
The 2000 General Assembly allocation was meant to improve the rail system along the busy I-95 corridor. The goal is to give motorists an incentive to take an Amtrak train rather than add to traffic congestion.
Only about $2 million of the allocation has been spent to date, mostly for environmental studies. The bulk of the work has been awaiting the final go-ahead from CSX.
Rae delivered a frank assessment of the sometimes rocky relationship between Virginia transportation officials and CSX, which owns and operates the 100 miles of track from Richmond to Washington.
Rae said she is concerned about Virginia’s inability to get CSX, the nation’s third-largest railroad, to stay on track to do the improvements.
“We have some cooperation at CSX, but I’m not sure it’s through the whole corporate structure,” she said in an interview.
“I am most frustrated, as is my staff, the secretary of transportation and the governor that the money is not in the ground yet,” Rae said.
In mid-July, Rae and CSX officials announced an agreement that allowed six projects to move forward.
Since then, she said, CSX has raised new issues such as insurance coverage that have delayed the start of construction.
“I’m disappointed and frustrated that we’re still not at the point to dig dirt on these projects,” Rae told more than 100 members of the Richmond Friends of Rail, a passenger rail-advocacy group.
Rae has requested a meeting with CSX’s chairman and CEO, Michael Ward, to discuss her concerns.
CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan, asked about Rae’s remarks, said his company remains committed to the work.
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad has sustained widespread damage from the recent hurricanes and tropical storms that have hit the Southeast the core of CSX’s operations.
“Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Ivan every single one of them have had a tremendous impact on this railroad,” Sullivan said. “We’ve had power outages, we’ve had floods, we’ve had thousands and thousands of trees across our line.”
The railroad, though “very committed” to the Virginia projects, has been swamped by other concerns, he said.
The hurricanes have “taken a lot of the focus of virtually everybody on this railroad,” Sullivan said.
Gov. Mark R. Warner’s top transportation official said yesterday that he also wants to meet with CSX.
“CSX has a unique opportunity to capitalize on the use of this $65.7 million,” said Whitt Clement, secretary of transportation and Rae’s boss.
“I’ve made no secret of my willingness to consider a redirection of those funds,” he added.
Clement said he plans to recommend that future rail funding include a competitive component.
If railroads knew they could win state funding by putting up their own capital, he said, “that would bring competition, and possibly better partnership opportunities.”
The $65.7 million allocation has been “just dangling out there” for CSX, he said.
Clement praised the other major railroad operating in Virginia Norfolk Southern Corp. for “sending a clearer message than CSX” about its plans to work on joint projects geared toward taking trucks off the highway and restoring passenger rail service in western Virginia.