(The following story by Matthew Phillips appeared at Richmond.com on October 21.)
RICHMOND, Va. — In 2000, The Virginia General Assembly gave CSX Corp. $65.7 million of state money to fund rail improvements to the freight conglomerate’s tracks between Richmond and Washington D.C. The objective was to upgrade passenger rail service on the 100-mile long corridor, which for decades had been plagued by congestion that reduced speed and reliability.
Four years of increasing congestion later, not to mention deteriorating relations with state rail officials, CSX has finally decided to spend that money and this month signed an agreement with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to begin construction on six projects. Signed Oct. 6, the agreement came on the heels of public comments by Gov. Mark R. Warner and DRPT Director Karen Rae, who were both critical of CSX and the pace at which it has worked toward devising a plan to spend the funds.
In its defense, CSX had never entered into a deal of this nature and is now setting a precedent which subsequent construction deals will have to follow as it strives to upgrade its rail system across the country. A hastily fashioned agreement was not in CSX’s best interests, company officials contended, especially considering such complexities as insurance liability and engineering designs.
In a letter to Gov. Warner dated Oct. 6, CSX CEO Michael J. Ward struck an appeasing chord, insisting that the company is committed to learning from this experience, as well as “strengthening the positive and productive relationship that has existed between CSX and the Commonwealth for many years.” While its operations in Virginia had been minimal for a number of years, it’s worth noting that in February 2003 CSX relocated its corporate headquarters from Richmond — its home since 1978 — to Jacksonville, Fla.
Wrote Ward, “…[N]ow that we have a master construction agreement in place, we can cover new projects under the master agreement for the foreseeable future without having our lawyers split hairs over the vast majority of the terms and conditions that have contributed to the delays.”
The purpose of the project is to increase the speed and reliability of passenger service in the corridor, which for the most part consists of only two tracks, both owned by CSX. Operating on those tracks are three entities: CSX freight trains, Virginia Railway Express commuter trains and Amtrak passenger trains. With limited crossovers available, rail traffic is heavy, and bearing the brunt of that traffic is passenger and commuter service.
“There’s service but it’s not reliable,” said Rae.
Under the agreement, most of the construction will take place in northern Virginia. Improvements will include upgrades to the track’s signal system, the addition of more crossovers, the installation of nine miles of new track, as well as the reconstruction of a third track through Fredericksburg. The first project is slated to get underway next month in Stafford County, and all six are expected to be completed by early 2007.
“After they’re done,” said Rae. “We can add up to five passenger trains and add capacity for up to 15 more freight trains per day.”
The state’s long term goal according to Rae is to build a third rail along the entire corridor. “We’ve had discussions about designating it for a certain use,” she said. “But a joint use of all three tracks might make the most sense.”
Though they’re subject to a speed limit of 70 mph, trains traveling in the corridor average a speed of only 55 mph.
“Our focus is on the bottlenecks,” said VDRPT Manager of Passenger Rail Programs Alan Tobias, who pointed to the section between Richmond’s Main Street Station and the Amtrak station off Staples Mill as a hot spot of congestion. It currently takes trains a half-hour to travel between the two, a distance of less than five miles.
The average train ride between Richmond and Washington’s historic Union Station is two hours and 40 minutes. Tobias said the goal is to cut that to a solid two hours, a reduction which could eventually lure more passengers. Current travel is about 500,000 passengers a year.
For her part, Rae said she is glad to have reached a point where “we can finally start putting shovels in the ground,” and that despite what at times has been a frustrating process, she is ready to move forward. “We know that part of the delay is that this is going to set a model for the country, so we have to give them their due,” said Rae. “But our goal is and always has been to optimize the rail system between Richmond and D.C.”
Can that be done now?
“We’ll have to see how this new relationship with CSX goes,” said Rae.