Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER NOTE: below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Against the backdrop of an aging locomotive, state and local officials Tuesday announced a $250,000 feasibility study for daily passenger service from Bristol to Washington, D.C., and Richmond along existing Norfolk Southern Corp. tracks.
The trains would be operated by a private carrier under contract with the state, said Leo Bevon, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, the agency that is spearheading the study.
Both trains would pass through Roanoke, which has lacked passenger rail service for 15 years. City business and political leaders see a passenger railroad as a potential economic boon as well as a convenience for the valley's citizens.
"We are of course the home - were the home - of the Norfolk & Western and were for many years a very large station for passenger rail service," said Mayor David Bowers, a key booster of the study.
Funding was approved by the General Assembly this year at the urging of state Sens. William Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, and Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County. The state has hired the Fairfax consulting firm Frederic R. Harris Inc. to do the analysis.
The study should answer three major questions:
Are the riders there?
Can the passenger trains run on existing freight lines without disrupting cargo operations?
And could operations be profitable or, at least, break even?
"The most critical part of the study will be to determine the potential demand for rail passenger service in the two corridors," Bevon said during the news conference at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
In predicting there will be ridership demand, the officials present cited increasing congestion on Interstate 81, Interstate 64 and other major Western Virginia highways.
Wampler said it costs him $525 to fly round-trip between Bristol and Richmond, and predicted rail service could be run profitably by charging only a fraction of that.
A train ride from Roanoke to Washington might cost $50 or less one-way, about half the cost of flying via USAir from Roanoke, said Alan Tobias, senior rail transportation engineer for the department.
Potential ridership will be estimated through surveys of Western Virginia residents and motorists on major highways throughout the region, Bevon said.
Assuming the riders are there, another hurdle would be the tracks. An NS spokesman said the company's business is booming, and he questioned whether it could allow passenger trains on its rails without disrupting freight operations.
"Our business has greatly improved, and with that improved business, NS ... has experienced some shortage of capacity," said Bob Auman, a spokesman for the railroad.
An NS policy adopted in March holds that its tracks can be used for passenger service only where it is convenient and profitable for the railroad. NS will not allow passenger trains that travel faster than 79 mph on its rails, and it must be fully insured against losses from possible accidents.
The final question is whether the railroad could operate without losing huge amounts of money, a prospect that could kill the service's chances in the state legislature.
Bell said the study would have to demonstrate that the passenger line could make a profit or break even.
"We're not in this to have some taxpayers that don't use the service paying for it so that some others can benefit. I think [the legislature] can be sold if we, by the study, can show a relatively short-term return on the investment," he said.
Amtrak included Roanoke as a possible stop during a 1992 study of a New York-to-Atlanta rail corridor. But it later abandoned the idea because of budget cutbacks and estimates that the corridor would require huge government subsidies.
Virginia already has commuter rail service from Washington to Fredericksburg and Manassas. Amtrak runs to Richmond and Newport News.
N&W ended its rail passenger operations through Roanoke in 1971. Amtrak operated trains that ran through Roanoke to Norfolk from 1975 to 1977 and to Washington from 1977 to 1979.
by CNB