(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Derrill Holly on June 3.)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — After more than a decade of service, officials in northern Virginia have labeled Virginia Railway Express an overwhelming success.
But as they celebrated the commuter rail line surpassing the 25 million ridership mark, they warned Thursday that without more public money, the service may never meet its true potential.
“VRE takes one full lane of traffic off I-95 and I-66 each day. Think how bad those highways would be without VRE,” said Gov. Mark R. Warner, who joined rail officials in calling for more capacity and service upgrades.
Warner will seek $60 million for transportation projects throughout the commonwealth in an amendment to be offered to the General Assembly on June 16. Gridlock is an increasing problem in both northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
“It is at least a down payment. We’re going to have to come back next year and revisit specifically how we fund transit and rail,” Warner said. The governor added that projects like Metrorail service to Washington Dulles International Airport and expansion of VRE will only occur with a combination of local, state and federal funds.
Over 12 years, VRE usage has climbed from about 6,200 daily passenger trips to a service level consistently surpassing its current capacity of 16,000 riders.
“We have standees on most of the peak period trains,” said Dale Zehner, VRE’s chief executive officer.
VRE is now the nation’s 10th largest commuter rail system with 32 trains each day. The rail line serves Manassas, Fredericksburg, Alexandria and the District of Columbia on 81 miles of track owned by Norfolk Southern, CSX and Amtrak.
The ridership milestone was reached in late April or early May, prompting a promotional contest run through the commuter line’s Web site. Four passengers who were selected to represent the 25 millionth riders received prizes and plaques.
“Driving on the interstate is stressful,” said Robert Beattie, 62, a regular rider from Rappahannock County.
“We based our house-buying decision on finding a place that was very convenient to public transportation,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jose Cervantes, 37, who rides from Manassas to Washington, D.C., each day.
Much of VRE’s rolling stock is cars and locomotives refitted and refurbished after decades of service with other rail systems, and officials would seek more if funds were available. Proposed expansion to Haymarket and Spotsylvania would add about 8,000 passengers.
“We’d be full just as soon as we put the equipment on,” said VRE board chairman John Jenkins.