Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 27, 1993 TAG: 9305270149
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The X2000, a Swedish-built, high-speed "tilt" train that can take curves at 150 mph, needed help from a pair of diesel locomotives to get into Richmond's Acca Train Yard. The X2000 runs on electric power but there are no electric-train lines in Virginia.
Touted as the way passengers will be moved by rail in the not-so-distant future, the train just finished a three-month test on Amtrak's heavily traveled Washington-to-New York route. Federal officials hope to one day put it in service from Charlotte to Boston.
In its recent tests, the X2000 cut only a few minutes off the Washington-New York schedule of Amtrak's Metroliner, which already travels at more than 100 mph. But the top speed on the current lines connecting Newport News, Richmond and Washington is 79 mph.
Frank Forney, 76, who ran the Washington-Richmond rails for 37 years as a conductor for the now-defunct Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, said he was feeling like a dinosaur Wednesday as he surveyed the sleek new train.
"I'm used to the old-timey ones," said Forney as he marched with his wife around the yard. "I started with coal engines in 1943. I think this would be wonderful - 150 miles per hour."
"That's too fast, Frank! Way too fast!" said his wife, Audrey, 73.
Wednesday's overnight stop in Richmond, the X2000's second on a 10-week, national tour, was designed to woo taxpayers and policymakers along the Washington-Richmond-Charlotte corridor. The route is one of five targeted by federal authorities as having the greatest potential for high-speed rail.
Virginia officials estimated Wednesday it will cost about $350 million to upgrade signals and crossings between Washington and Richmond to handle the train at speeds up to 110 mph. Electrifying the route may cost another $200 million.
What such outlays would do to the cost of a train ticket is unclear. Amtrak charged X2000 passengers the normal Metroliner fare during the recent test but there is no guarantee that fares wouldn't rise if the high-tech train is put in service permanently.
"As the governor and others have said, no longer is the answer to lay down more asphalt," said John G. Milliken, Virginia secretary of transportation. "It's too costly and often offers adverse environmental problems."
High-speed rail, Milliken said, can be quicker than air travel and beats highway gridlock, particularly from Richmond to Washington.
Amtrak will be testing another high-speed train, a German-built ICE, later this year on the Washington-New York route. After evaluation, the federal government will request bids from manufacturers for a high-speed train for that corridor by 1997.
State officials said the earliest one of the new trains can run in Virginia depends on the cost of the track upgrades and how soon they can be financed and completed. The federal government might pick up half the cost, said George R. Conner, assistant administrator of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
Local officials, who showed up with dozens of children and rail buffs to see the train Wednesday, didn't need to be sold. Several said the new rail technology is one key to economic development; construction would provide thousands of jobs.
by CNB