
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 20, 1990                   TAG: 9003202761
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PUTTING TRAIN BACK ON RAILS

THE RECENT appointment of a transportation secretary in Virginia and the tourist-train bill in West Virginia may help speed the day when rail service resumes over the Virginia line.

Rail service between Western Virginia and Richmond was stopped during the 1950s, and recently Greyhound discontinued bus service on Routes 460 and 52.

Virginia and West Virginia friends of trains will soon begin collecting signatures on a petition to put the Virginian back on the rails, hauling passengers from Western Virginia and Southern West Virginia to Roanoke, Richmond and Washington, D.C. We will send our petition to Gov. Wilder, Gov. Caperton of West Virginia, and Amtrak in hopes that the two Virginias will cooperate with Amtrak to resume service by 1991 if not sooner.

The cancellation of just one Stealth bomber will run the Virginian well into the mid-'90s. If Amtrak riders continue to grow at the current rate, the Virginian will be self-supporting long before 1995.

Anyone interested in getting a copy of our petition may write me at Box 610, Peterstown, W.Va. 24963.\ JACK FRAZIER\ PETERSTOWN, W.VA.

by CNB