Posted on 06/19/2010 5:04:00 AM PDT by Willie Green
Fort Lee considers moving Army soldiers by train to Fort A. P. Hill in Caroline County
Hearkening back to an earlier era of military transport, officials at Fort Lee in Virginia are considering moving Army soldiers back and forth to field training at Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline by train.
The military train, if it launches, would carry 800 to 1,100 Army soldiers from Fort Lee to a drop-off point in Milford. Local buses would be arranged to carry soldiers the approximate three miles between Milford and Fort A.P. Hill.
After training for five days, a southbound train would carry the 800 to 1,100 soldiers back to Fort Lee, said Stuart Gregory, executive officer, deputy to the commanding general at Fort Lee.
The train would run an estimated 37 to 40 weeks in a year, Gregory said.
Concern over the potential for crashes on Interstate 95 led the Army to consider moving soldiers by train.
"The biggest reason is safety," Gregory said.
Within the past three years, two motor vehicle crashes involved soldiers on their way to training at Fort A.P. Hill, Gregory said. One was a minor incident, but the other crash hospitalized several soldiers, he said.
Currently, Fort Lee charters several-dozen buses to carry soldiers to training at Fort A.P. Hill.
But with more soldiers being shifted to Fort Lee as part of the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission process, the number of soldiers that need to attend training at Fort A.P. Hill from Fort Lee will grow, Gregory said.
"All of that plays into increasing the odds of something bad happening," Gregory said.
The course at Fort A.P. Hill is called logistics warrior training, and is required for soldiers regardless of their position in the Army, said Matthew Montgomery, Fort Lee spokesman.
Fort Lee is located south of Richmond, near Petersburg. It has a rail spur on the post, and it currently receives materials by freight.
Fort Lee officials have been holding early discussions with Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation about ways to obtain train equipment. Fort Lee recently received Army approval to operate a train.
The last time Fort Lee officials believe trains were actively used to transport soldiers was in the 1960s, Gregory said.
If Fort Lee's initiative is successful, the Army may expand the use of trains elsewhere, Gregory said.
Yesterday, members of the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board were notified of the informal discussions with the Army.
Dale Zehner, VRE's chief executive officer, said the Army may be interested in leasing some VRE rail cars it holds in reserve as backup passenger cars.
Paul Milde, a Stafford supervisor and VRE Operations Board chairman, said the railway should do everything it can to support the military, as long as it does not adversely affect VRE service and passengers.
Zehner said more information would be available later this year.
Moving soldiers by train would lessen traffic for all other travelers on Interstate 95, Gregory said.
Also, it would give soldiers a chance to train for operations abroad, where traveling by train could be required, Gregory said.
Kevin Page, chief of rail transportation at the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said the Army train is an excellent opportunity to expand rail service in Virginia.
So far, the state agency's role has been connecting Army officials to institutions that will be involved in the process, such as freight rail companies, Page said.
Most if not all were ripped out during the CarDUH an ClinTOON Administrations
Oh for the love of Mike...
What kind of dimtard military logistics bureaucrat would completely abandon that mode of transportation???
Even if other methods are preferred, don't they teach 'em contingency planning, redundant backup systems and other fundamental principles to "be prepared" for whatever scenario that might crop up??
Those base RR sidings need to be restored ASAP.
Why would the ARmy use buses to transport troops THREE miles. Looks like the troops could use the three mile hike as part of their PT.
Forget the hike.
They can be ordered to hike anywhere, anytime, day or night, 24/7/365.
What is totally unforgivable is that there isn't a RR siding to take 'em right onto the base.
Willie, we’ve disagreed about passenger trains before, but this time it actually looks like a good idea. BTW, when one considers the orginal justification for the Interstates, this story is very ironic.
BTW, when one considers the orginal justification for the Interstates, this story is very ironic.
Yes it is.
And right now I'm suffering an extreme attack of confused amazement and bewilderment.
When you stop and think of the Hundreds of Billions or Trillions of Dollars we've spent on Defense over the last 25~50~75~100 years....
How can we possibly have ANY military bases without its own railroad siding leading right onto base???
Something is very, very wrong with this picture....
I know for a fact that sometime after 1975 the rail sidings and the line spurs from the main line along with all the loading ramps were ripped out for Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Units here no longer have to have a qualified and trained rail load team.
Solution: a “spur” track from Milford right to AP Hill.
Only by truck now.
Trucks are pretty wimpy compared to boxcars.
Also, I’m not sure exactly what train route they will use. I don’t see any direct routes between the sites, it seems they’ll have to go pretty far off-track and do several switchbacks to get back and forth.
Thanks for the info...
I haven't googled any Virginia rail maps to try to figure out what routes might be available.
Would you happen to have a link handy so I can see what you're looking at?
I wish I knew where a good rail map was. I was just tracing through the tracks on Google Maps, using satellite pictures to determine what track switches were available at intersections.
So far as I could tell, they would end up heading east, do a transfer, wander through richmond, and I think come up Kings Dominion on the left before crossing I-95.
But there could be other routes. For some reason Google hasn’t done a “railroad track” selection yet.
I don’t think the Army has any more Army owned rolling stock.
Guess I didn’t fully explain my criticism. I don’t see why we’d spend money on buses to transport GIs three miles when, as you say, they can be ordered to hike it over to the camp.
For God’s sake dont let the Pentagon hear your comment about a RR spur and siding going over those 3 miles. It wold probably turn into a billion dollar government project that would get half-way built and then some Environut group would find a bird that would be annoyed by the noise competind with its song and sue to close it down.
Easier solution: just use stupid buses like has been successfully done now for years.
Actually they do and they make extensive use of it in transporting cargo (such as heavy vehicles) from the origin to the Sea Port of Embarkation (such as from Ft. Drum to Bayonne or from Ft. Stewart to Savannah, Charleston, or Mobile).
In addition, they have their own switching engines that move the stock around from point a to point b at military ocean terminals (what MOTs they have left, that is...they have been privatizing since the end of the Cold War...and from what I've seen, the ones that are still left in the inventory are in pretty rough shape, except those where munitions are stored).
http://www.masstransitmag.com/publication/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=11888
It looks like China does not want high speed rail.
http://www.masstransitmag.com/publication/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=11888
It looks like China does not want high speed rail.
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