Fort Lee has received the first four passenger cars for an Army train to transport soldiers by rail from the Prince George County post to Fort A.P. Hill for field training exercises.
The first bilevel cars for the Combined Arms Support Command pilot program arrived Wednesday at Fort Lee. The Army expects the trains to start running early in 2012.
The Army will also acquire an additional six bilevel passenger cars and three locomotives. The passenger train will be owned by the government and operated under contract.
The passenger train is the service's first since the Cold War-era Berlin Duty Train was deactivated about 25 years ago.
"Transporting large numbers of service members via the I-95 corridor presents a high safety risk" compared with rail travel, the Combined Arms Support Command said.
Currently, buses make about 80 round trips a year to take Fort Lee soldiers to and from A.P. Hill at an annual cost of about $573,000, the Army said.
Fort Lee said it anticipates that the rail program will cost more than using buses, though the amount is yet to be determined since the contract is still pending.
Fort Lee, near Petersburg, is about 60 miles south of A.P Hill, in Caroline County near Fredericksburg.
Peter Bacqué
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