Virginia set to compete for high-speed rail funds
TOM KAPSIDELIS
High-speed rail in Japan and other nations has leaped ahead of the U.S. One official says high-speed rail in the Richmond region would be “transformational.“
Virginia will take the first formal step tomorrow in seeking more than $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money to develop high-speed rail corridors.
Tomorrow is the deadline for a pre-application by the state for a share of the $8 billion available for high-speed rail development under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, adopted by Congress in February at President Barack Obama's urging.
"Anything that's not in the pre-application will not get funded, so it's a huge deadline," said Daniel L. Plaugher, executive director of Virginians for High Speed Rail in a breakfast presentation today to the Greater Richmond Chamber at Willow Oaks Country Club.
Virginia's proposed $1.51 billion plan includes $491 million improvements in a six-mile stretch around Richmond's Acca rail yard and a 13-mile link between the yard and Main Street Station in the city's downtown. The improvements are necessary to remove bottlenecks that limit rail service to the renovated station
Other parts of the proposal include:
- $185 million to add a third rail track between Richmond and Fredericksburg;
- $152 million to improve conventional rail service between Main Street Station and Petersburg; and
- $195 million to upgrade the rail corridor between Richmond and Washington, D.C., to allow high-speed trains that could cut the trip to 90 minutes on a reliable basis.
The state will submit the final proposal for developing the rail corridors on Oct. 2, and the federal government is expected to award money to the winners on Nov. 16.
Kim Scheeler, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Richmond Chamber, said his organization is working to build support for the state's proposal.
""It really is the kind of thing that can be transformational for this community," Scheeler said.
-- Michael Martz
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Reader Reactions
Fred: You can’t say no road has ever killed anyone when bridge collapses have killed some people. Remember the bridge collapse in Minneapolis?
I’m all for this high speed rail. This is something that can compete with air travel in the northeast if done properly.
Squier13…Since EVERYONE uses the roads, everyone should help pay for them. Relatively few people use rail in this country, but if those passengers want to pay THE FULL FARE then build it. The problem is no one will want to pay the full fair, and that’s when taxpayers have to subsidize the boondogle. In addtition, NO ROAD EVER KILLED ANYONE, people kill themselves and others because of many reasons, primarily lousy driving skills
darnyankee i looked google maps at the section of track between Main St and the main line junction near 288 you mentioned. it appears to pass through two yards and is single track for a good portion. so I imagine the money allotted for this project will double-track the line and possibly add track around those yards. my guess is the single track is why Amtrak doesn’t currently use that section.
High speed rail between Richmond and DC would be great. Can you imagine what it would do for salaries here in town? We already enjoy a minor benefit. If we become the less expensive suburb of DC opportunities in Richmond will grow exponentially. We already have a few companies here because of the proximity to DC. Many more would follow if we have the foresight to invest in this.
squier13, you missed my point. A rail line between those two points already exists and doesn’t have to be built. All that needs to be done is AMTRAK needs to switch those trains onto the already existing trackage (or more correctly, ask CSX to do it.)
Roads and highways are public works, paid for by driver license and vehicle registration fees and gas and excise taxes. We can’t go back to the days of private turnpikes and I don’t consider making what are now privately owned railroads public works “progress.“ I’m not against passenger railroad travel, but I don’t think that it should be subsidized just because roads have become public works. I also don’t think that diverting transporation funds generated from the sources I named above to rail or bicycle trails for that matter, does any of those modes of transportation any good.
Just wondering, if this is the travel of the future and is what everyone is clamoring for why has a private comoany looked into this.
I forsee another AMTRAK debacle.But then it’s only taxpayers money that could be used for say POT HOLE repair on interstates and other major roads.
But then this would make COMMON sense.
Somethng that has been missing in the COMMONWEALTH under the last two administrations.
“If this was a good and somwhat profitable proposal private industry would be investing in it, however no companies seem to be interested.“
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Sure because that’s how our roads work. Roads and highways are such profitable enterprises that private business runs them all and have been making money hand over fist selling tickets to drive on all the roads. Good thing the invisible hand of the market has made our road network such a profitable cash cow for road operating corporations.
Oh wait that’s right, all roads are taxpayer subsidized money losers that kill 42,000 Americans a year.
I am all for this. I was recently traveling in Spain, and took high speed rail to most of my destinations. I found it quick and efficient, two things that Richmond rail or AMTRAK in general has lacked. Hopefully these improvements to the infrastructure will improve the overall quality.
“If this is such a wonderful idea and benefit, why do taxpayers have to pay for it?“...EXCELLENT question DarnYankee. The taxpayer’s have to pay for it because it is a lousy idea and a waste of money! This idea is a money looser, and the first dollar hasn’t even been spent. If this was a good and somwhat profitable proposal private industry would be investing in it, however no companies seem to be interested. In addtion, 90 minutes Richmond to DC??, that’s not high speed rail, HIGH SPEED RAIL is train speeds in excess of 200 MPH or Richmond to DC in 30 minutes!
darnyankee in answer to your question, yes. if a passenger wants to travel to any point south from Main St, they have to go to Staples Mill first. there is currently no other way to do it. when more destinations are available direct from Main St., passenger volume will increase.
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