(The following article by Chip Jones was posted on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website on December 1.)
RICHMOND, Va. — The state Rail Advisory Board yesterday approved a $23.2 million plan that will replace track switches at Richmond’s Acca Yard and study a new passenger-train lot for Main Street Station, among other projects.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board may vote on the plan Dec. 15. But some rail boosters think the first-ever rail fund funnels too much money to freight railroads CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., and not enough to passenger-rail efforts.
Twelve projects are included on the fund list.
John Thompson, general counsel for Virginians for High Speed Rail, said the state should spend more to help Amtrak bring better passenger-rail service to the Washington, Richmond and Newport News corridor. “As an advocate for intercity passenger rail, I continue to be disappointed,” he said of the spending plan.
“This is a starting point where we want to leap forward from,” countered Karen Rae, head of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
Rail Advisory Board members clashed on the expected public benefits of the proposed work and questioned why some of the money would pay for long-deferred maintenance by the private railroads. The criticism included $2.8 million in state funds earmarked for Acca, which is off Interstate 64.
“This is a really a maintenance project,” board member Richard Beadles said. “It’s a cost-of-doing-business project.”
No CSX official spoke. But another board member defended the Acca upgrade, noting that CSX must invest more than $1 million of its own money to qualify.
The nearly $4 million project calls for the replacement of 13 pneumatic switches with more reliable electric switches. The aging equipment has been blamed for creating bottlenecks that have slowed Amtrak passenger trains and CSX freight trains.
The rail fund creates “an opportunity to improve the facility in a way that a freight railroad wouldn’t do on its own,” said David Brown, a board member and Norfolk Southern’s vice president for strategic planning.
Another area project on the list is $140,000 for a feasibility study to use the Port of Richmond’s rail yard to turn and store Amtrak passenger trains pulling into Main Street Station.
That project could provide a vital link for the planned TransDominion Express, an effort to revive passenger-rail service from Southwest Virginia to Richmond.
Rae tried to be upbeat about the $23.2 million fund while stressing that it can’t undo about 30 years of what she called “disinvestment” in the railroads. She said hundreds of millions of dollars of other upgrades are needed.
Legislators at the 2006 General Assembly session will consider funding additional improvements.