Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Leo J. Bevon, director of Virginia's Department of Rail and Public Transportation, will hold news conferences in Bristol and Roanoke to announce the study. The proposed passenger service would pass through and include Roanoke.
The study was requested by the 1993 session of the Virginia General Assembly, said Tom Stewart, a rail transportation engineer with the 2-year-old Virginia agency.
Last summer, Roanoke Mayor David Bowers and other mayors from towns in Virginia and Tennessee met with Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, and Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Sens. Chuck Robb, D-Va., and John Warner, R-Va., to push for a study of new service and won an agreement from Amtrak and the state that it would be conducted.
Funding for the study in the amount of $250,000 was approved by this year's session of the General Assembly in the 1994-95 fiscal budget. The research will be conducted by Frederick R. Harris, a Fairfax-based transportation consulting firm.
Stewart said a progress report on the feasibility study will be presented to the 1995 session of the legislature. The study is expected to take 12 to 15 months.
The study will examine such issues as what route the service should follow and what the current and forecast demand for rail passenger service is, Stewart said.
The public will be asked for its input, he said.
Boucher has said the study will need to look at how the state and federal governments would share the costs of new passenger service. No new passenger service has been started by Amtrak in recent years without state support, he said.
Norfolk Southern Chairman David Goode, a Vinton native, has said in the past that he doubts there is a need for the service.
by CNB