Va., U.S. To Spend $13 Million On [Rail] Upgrade

Washington Post ^ | October 1, 2008 | Anita Kumar

[Lorianne]

The state and federal governments will spend $13 million to improve passenger rail service south of Fredericksburg as part of a multiyear project to make trains faster and ease traffic in Northern Virginia.

The money will be used to build a third train track on a three-mile stretch in Spotsylvania County to allow Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express passenger trains to avoid being stuck behind slow-moving freight trains.

"States like Virginia have struggled for years to find ways to make rail service . . . a viable alternative to what seems like an always clogged Interstate 95 corridor," U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said. "It's easy to see how a little improvement in this service could move a lot of traffic."

Peters, who took the train from Washington to Richmond on Tuesday afternoon, said the project will increase rail service at a time when Americans are driving less because of a spike in gas prices. She and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) made the announcement at the historic railroad station on Main Street, a few blocks from downtown Richmond

[TFine80]

Let the libs invade farther and farther south... :)

[rovenstinez]

I like rails, some of the fun about touring Europe. Bring on the rails...

[TFine80]

It’s true. The traffic is a serious problem.

But the more Washington bleeds into Northern Virginia, the bluer it will get....

[B Knotts]

Trains are only practical if everyone lives within 1/2 of the railroad line.

[Moose4]

Considering the rate of growth in the DC metro area, and considering that I-395/I-95 can be a fifty-mile parking lot between the Potomac and Fredericksburg some days, this isn’t a bad idea.

}:-)4

[B Knotts]

1/2 mile, that is.

[Kackikat]

Absolutely, a rail fan here. Trains are cool.

Even more important is goods are now being transported by rails and double stack cars...that’s good news for the Interstates, and hopefully a pullback from some of those dangerous tractor trailers.

[HokieMom]

Richmond Main Street Station Wikipedia

[glorgau]

Have Amtrak name the train “The McClellan” and it will never get to Richmond. ;-)

[neodad]

Willie Green lives.

[dr_who]

We don’t want them. They can take their salt-encrusted Volvos and drive them into Quebec, but we don’t want them. The ones that are down here already have done enough damage.

[dr_who]

I wondered what that building was every time I whizzed by it on I-95.

[dr_who]

Traffic is a serious problem because Washington is a city whose primary function is to give lots of easy money away to anyone imaginable.

[BlazingArizona]

Trains are only practical if everyone lives within 1/2 of the railroad line.

This is only true at the working end of the line, not the residential end.

[B Knotts]

How is it not true at the residential end? It is usually impractical to drive to the train station, park, and then take the train in. If you’re already driving, you can just drive to wherever you want to go.

[Yo-Yo]

[John Galt's cousin]

How w - i - d - e would the interstate have to be to accommodate the cars that the passengers in the trains would use?

Passenger trains are now like a public utility. People have to move between cities. The existing roads cannot handle the demand. To built the needed roads would cost much more than to build the dedicated passenger rail (and we should also build parallel freight rail). To build the needed roadways would also require many more people to be dispossessed from their homes through eminent domain.

We should require Congress to build adequate rail between major cities to move people and freight. This would reduce the wear on the existing roads, as well as petroleum derived energy costs.

{(+silliness)

Plus - it is easier to read on the train than while driving on the interstate!

(/silliness)}

[frankiep]

I’m not too familiar with the Fredricksburg area of NoVA, but I do know that something needs to be done about the ridiculous traffic and congestion in Fairfax and Loudoun along Route 7. I know that they are supposed to extend the Metro out to Tyson’s Corner, but that’s like putting a band-aid on a shotgun wound.

[BlazingArizona]

It is usually impractical to drive to the train station, park, and then take the train in.

Nonetheless, that's what everybody does in places like the New York suburbs. As the cost of gas rises, the savings from doing this steadily gets btter than the inconvenience. At the same time, transit encourages higher density development in the city, squeezing out cars. This has now even started to happen in Los Angeles.