(The Associated Press circulated the following article on October 1.)
RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Mark R. Warner and other state officials expressed exasperation yesterday over CSX Corp.’s delays in breaking ground on $65.7 million in rail improvements that the General Assembly authorized four years ago.
“What is surprising and frustrating is the reluctance of CSX to make this more of a priority, because there are other viable rail projects in Virginia that could make ample use of $65.7 million in a time of limited state transportation resources,” Warner said in a statement.
The state funding would help ease rail traffic between Richmond and Washington, a heavily traveled and often congested corridor. State rail officials said they could not explain why CSX had not begun the work, since the improvements benefit not only Virginia Railway Express and Amtrak passengers but also the railroad’s freight customers.
“We’re talking four years to get something going, and that just seems like too much time,” said Karen Rae, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
Before the work can start, Virginia and CSX officials must agree on several issues, including the additional liability coverage the railroad wants the state to assume. Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX also says it has been dealing with widespread damage from recent hurricanes and tropical storms in the Southeast.
“People who would otherwise be able to focus on this particular issue have in fact had to work on problems caused” by the storms, Bob Sullivan, a spokesman for the railroad, said yesterday.
The funding would pay for several crossover improvements along the 100 miles of track between Richmond and Washington. In some areas, such as Franconia and possibly Fredericksburg, a third track would be built to help ease congestion.
North of Fredericksburg, only one railroad track crosses Quantico Creek, causing major backups daily for VRE, Amtrak and freight.
VRE hired a contractor this summer to build a second crossing, paid for with $26 million in state and federal funds, but hang-ups with CSX have stalled the project.
After the upgrades are finished, the tracks will be able to accommodate four more VRE commuter trains, another Amtrak train and up to 15 additional freight trains, Rae said.
Local communities and state governments have a history of battling CSX over the condition of its facilities.
Stafford County Supervisor Kandy Hilliard has been after CSX for years to fix two bridges. One, a deteriorating span on Brooke Road, has occasionally dropped chunks of concrete onto cars traveling beneath it.
The other, a section of Courthouse Road that travels over CSX tracks, is in such poor condition that heavy vehicles–garbage trucks, moving vans and the like–are prohibited from traveling into the neighborhood beyond the bridge.
Fredericksburg officials have repeatedly asked CSX to take better care of the four railroad bridges that cross over Charles, Princess Anne, Caroline and Sophia streets. Former City Councilman Joe Wilson once had the city send a chunk of fallen concrete from one of those bridges to CSX headquarters.
And in Alexandria, the City Council posted CSX’s office number on large signs near the crumbling King Street bridge before the company–tired of all the phone calls–contributed money for the bridge’s rehabilitation.
In Delaware last year, the state transportation department closed three CSX bridges that carried cars over railroad tracks because officials deemed them unsafe. In Charleston, W.Va., officials negotiated with CSX for seven years before the company agreed to help fix a bridge ramp in 1998.