(The following editorial by Steve Dunham was posted on the Free-Lance Star website on July 10.)
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Railway Express began summer with its worst slump in performance in eight years. The official figures for June haven’t been posted yet, but I’m sure my experience was typical: only 54 percent on time, with an average delay of 18 minutes.
In my nine years of commuting on VRE, I’ve seen things that bad only once before, when a CSX freight train derailment on July 8, 1997, in Arlington disrupted rail service for six weeks. That summer, because of reduced capacity on CSX, VRE had to slash service by 50 percent, and still the remaining trains ran late, with delays averaging about 20 minutes.
Things looked bleak a year ago when the Fredericksburg line’s on-time performance slumped to 68 percent in July, and fell below 80 percent in the fall and winter. But now it would be nice to have the trains run on time that often. For most of its 13 years, VRE trains have run more than 90 percent on time, and riders miss that reliability.
Once again, host railroad CSX Transportation seems to be the main culprit. It’s imposed heat restrictions, slowing trains by 20 miles per hour when the temperature goes above 85. It’s discovered spots on the line where the track needs maintenance and imposed slow orders in those areas. Its own freight trains have had to halt when crews reach the legal limit of 12 hours and have to wait for a relief crew, tying up the railroad. Problems with signals and switches have delayed even more trains. Finally, the construction of crossover switches near Arkendale Road in Stafford County has delayed trains, as has construction of the second bridge over Quantico Creek.
VRE’s chief executive officer, Dale Zehner, communicated his concerns in a letter to CSX last month, and admitted in a message to riders that service has been substandard.
“We need a renewed commitment from CSXT to operate VRE trains on time,” he said. He acknowledged the need for CSX to perform track maintenance, and recognized, along with VRE passengers, that projects such as those at Arkendale and Quantico, designed to relieve congestion, will cause some delays during construction. He also noted that heat restrictions in themselves cause minimal delays–typically 10 minutes between Washington and Fredericksburg.
It’s the big delays that frustrate passengers, disrupt work schedules and interfere with family time. Typically I will collect three or four free-ride certificates in a year; VRE gives them to passengers when a train is half an hour or more late. I collected four in June alone. I gave away two of them to passengers who couldn’t get the ticket machine to sell them a ticket–another area of frustration for riders who must purchase and validate tickets.
VRE had planned for even more tickets to be validated, requiring riders to validate step-up tickets used in conjunction with VRE tickets on Amtrak trains. This would have meant another 200-plus tickets validated each weekday in machines that are having trouble handling the current load.
Late in June, VRE announced that passengers do not have to validate their step-up tickets before boarding an Amtrak train. Just hand your step-up ticket to the Amtrak conductor when you show your VRE monthly, 10-trip or five-day pass.
As those of you who ride Amtrak trains found out, VRE implemented the step-up tickets on July 5. Last month, when I wrote that the step-up tickets would be required on June 27, I promptly received an e-mail from a reader who pointed out that I’d gotten it wrong. I called VRE and asked whether the step-up fare had been implemented. The rest of the conversation went something like this:
“No, not until July 5th.”
“But your Web site says ”
“I know. They’re changing it. It was supposed to be implemented June 27th, but they changed it.”
I apologize for any inconvenience I caused with the misinformation. And I wish all of you a relaxing, on-time commute for the rest of the summer.
STEVE DUNHAM of Spotsylvania County commutes on Virginia Railway Express to Arlington. He chairs the board of directors of the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons. Write him c/o Commuter Crossroads, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401, or e-mail literalman@aol.com.