(The following article by Chip Jones was posted on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website on December 3.)
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s rail system needs a dedicated source of funding if railroads are ever going to become a viable alternative to cars and trucks, Gov. Mark R. Warner was told yesterday.
The Governor’s Commission on Rail Enhancement for the 21st Century issued a 40-page report that provides a blueprint to meet “increased reliance on passenger and freight rail.”
Warner said he would use the rail report as part of a transportation plan to be released Thursday. In a statement, he said he “strongly supports the need to establish a dedicated, sustained funding source for rail that can help improve our freight and passenger rail services in the commonwealth.”
The task force recommendations deserve “careful consideration by the General Assembly,” Warner said.
The commission’s eight members from around Virginia have been meeting since August. They considered a variety of funding and governing approaches, including creating a state rail authority.
That concept, previously rejected by the General Assembly, received “a lot of discussion,” said commission leader Sharon Bulova.
“We decided to back away from focusing on governance to what we want to see accomplished,” Bulova said. “There was agreement among everyone that we should invest in the freight lines when that can be beneficial for the public good.”
Bulova, a Fairfax County supervisor, said she has seen the benefits of public-private partnerships with the Northern Virginia commuter rail, the Virginia Railway Express.
The report urges Virginia to create partnerships with the state’s two major railroads, Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp., as well as short-line operators.
RAIL
While trucking companies and air lines benefit from public funding of highways and airports, railroads have received only limited state and local support for capital and construction costs.
“Acting alone,” the report states, “neither the private nor the public sectors has sufficient capital for these investments.”
Warner’s study group did not recommend a specific funding mechanism, leaving that to the governor.
But the report highlighted the longtime funding imbalance. Rail receives no annual appropriation from the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which finances the Virginia Department of Transportation. Besides highways, the fund supports public transit systems, the Virginia Port Authority and airports.
VDOT has a $3.4 billion budget for fiscal 2004-2005. The only state funding for rail is less than $6 million a year for rail preservation and industrial access.
This funding gap persists despite steady growth of freight railroad traffic and the need for more passenger rail service.
“While much of Virginia’s rail system is currently operating below capacity,” the report states, “there are significant chokepoints to eliminate for the entire system to operate more efficiently.”
One chokepoint is Richmond’s own Acca Yard, where CSX trains often get backed up, slowing freight and Amtrak trains alike.
Millions of dollars are needed to make the track and signal improvements to speed up Amtrak trains running between Richmond’s Main Street Station and Staples Mill Station in Henrico County.
In the Richmond-Washington rail corridor alone, it would take $400 million to make the upgrades needed to improve Amtrak’s train speeds, the report states.
Statewide, the price tag for needed rail improvements is $2.7 billion through 2010 and $8.1 billion through 2025.
Warner was urged to create a permanent Rail Advisory Commission, which would work in tandem with the Commonwealth Transportation Board. The goal is to integrate rail planning with the rest of the state’s transportation network.
Warner also was advised to increase the small staff of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, which coordinates rail planning.
Department director Karen Rae, one of four state officials who served as nonvoting members of Warner’s task force, praised its work.
“I think it’s a document that really pulls together a cohesive set of facts and information, and puts it into action,” she said. “It’s pretty user-friendly.”
She said it would be posted on her department’s Web site – www.drpt.virginia.gov – by this morning.