Improving train travel

By The Daily Progress

Published: October 8, 2008

It might be a relatively small financial victory, but it signals a new era in federal-state relations regarding transit.

The federal government is making available nearly $30 million for 15 passenger rail projects across the nation.
Virginia received $2 million for a project to build a third track in Spotsylvania County for passenger trains between Richmond and Washington. Two tracks already exist, but are used by freight lines, which often simultaneously runs north- and southbound trains.

Amtrak, the nation’s passenger rail service, owns no track but must rent track time from, and share with, the freight companies that actually do own the infrastructure.
Like Amtrak, freight carriers are seeing an increase in demand for service, as a result of rising gasoline prices making transportation by truck more expensive.
But even before gas price increases, freight volume had been growing. The result is intensified pressure on infrastructure — more trains, longer trains competing for track time.

Virginia’s project will build track that will allow passenger trains to move past a rail bottleneck. Virginia was prepared to pay the full $11 million required for construction. But the federal government will provide matching funds of $2 million, allowing Virginia to pull an equal amount from its original commitment and use that money for other transportation projects.
“You’ll be able to get from Richmond to Washington quicker than driving from Leesburg to Washington,” Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said at a news conference late last month. Richmond is about three times farther from D.C. than is Leesburg.

Virginia needs more of these kinds of projects.

Amtrak needs more of these kinds of projects.

Rail ridership has been consistently rising since the gasoline crisis. Overall, transit ridership is up 11 percent, and Amtrak carried more passengers in July than in any month in its history, said federal Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.
July also saw a decrease in vehicle miles driven for the ninth consecutive month.

Enhanced rail service must be a major component of any effort to improve modern transportation. Efficiency is key, and rail travel can be more efficient than trips by car or airplane.
For instance, the latest edition of the Transportation Energy Data Book, compiled by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, rated Amtrak as 17.9 percent more energy efficient than airlines. The figures are from 2006.
The rating is based on BTUs — British thermal units — used per passenger mile. There are other ways to view efficiency — such as how quickly one can reach one’s destination, or even whether Amtrak serves that destination at all. But the point is well taken: rail travel is economical.
The report is just one more reminder that we need to boost our rail capacity — for passengers as well as freight.

In Virginia, one such project is on track with welcome federal assistance.