(The following story by Kytja Weir appeared on the Washington Examiner website on June 7, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Virginia Railway Express is crafting contingency plans in case its new contractor isn’t ready to take over service from a rival later this month — but the alternatives likely won’t be cheap.
The commuter train service plans to give the Federal Railroad Administration a plan by Wednesday that will outline how VRE will ensure that its Northern Virginia riders have trains to ride to get to their Washington jobs come June 28, said VRE spokesman Mark Roeber.
French-owned Keolis is slated to take over operations from Amtrak that day. But the company, in its first foray into the U.S. commuter train market, has run into delays hiring train crews and getting them approved.
VRE has blamed Amtrak, saying the train agency has run interference to avenge its loss of the commuter train contract. The commuter train service has received permission from its operations board and two parent commissions to sue Amtrak if needed.
But Roeber said VRE isn’t planning on filing suit yet, and he expects Keolis to take over as planned.
If not, VRE and Amtrak say they are negotiating to find alternatives; the FRA requested such a plan last month when all the agencies sat down to work out the switch, Roeber said.
“We’ve always wanted to be helpful to VRE in this transition,” Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said. “This is yet another example of us being willing to talk to them.”
However, if Amtrak continues to offer VRE service after the end of its contract, operating costs could grow. Two weeks of Amtrak running the trains typically costs VRE no more than about $340,000 currently, Roeber said, but Amtrak told them it could cost between $450,000 to $550,000 to run past the contract. That’s significantly more than the approximately $300,000 that Roeber said Keolis service would cost. Keolis would likely need to contribute to any extra costs if Amtrak’s help is needed, Roeber added.
Kulm said Amtrak provided preliminary cost estimates after the train agency was asked for ballpark figures. He would not confirm nor dispute the numbers VRE provided. Both sides said exact numbers are still being nailed down.
A final plan needs to be decided well before the transition date so crews can be in place. “We’re going to need to know in advance if they’re going to make use of us,” Kulm said.