Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Editorial: Roanoke needs passenger rail
As the state prepares to update its rail plan, it should factor in the likelihood of a growing role for passenger trains -- and not forget this region.
From the RoundTable blog
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Roanoke needs passenger rail service for the same reason localities along the U.S. 29 corridor are clamoring for improved service: ease of travel between here and metropolitan Washington, D.C., and someday the rest of the nation.
As Virginia's roads get more congested and dollars for expansion and repair shrink, a train ride looks ever more attractive for leisure travel. Skyrocketing fuel costs, though, give the idea of a long-dreamed-of TransDominion Express greater credibility and a more urgent, economic development edge.
State transportation planners and policymakers need to include Roanoke and eventually Bristol as stops along a TDX line as they plot the state's future passenger rail network. Western Virginia must be linked to the rest of the state as old assumptions about transportation shift under the pressure of two national imperatives: the need to lower oil consumption and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Diverting more travel, including business travel, from highways to rails would help on both fronts.
Still, when the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation issues a statewide Rail Action Plan in the fall, a Roanoke stop connecting riders to Lynchburg and points north is likely to end up far behind a plan to improve service to the communities along U.S. 29.
Amtrak wants to partner with the state to add a regional line from Lynchburg to D.C., a route that already has long-distance Amtrak service that stays booked in advance.
That would be great. But if travel shifts increasingly from automobiles and faltering airline service, Roanoke and Southwest Virginia will need to be able to connect.
House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith of Salem doubts the Roanoke area now could generate the necessary volume of business travel to justify the inevitable state subsidy for passenger rail. Someday, but not today. Likely, he is right. Yet reliable train service could be a plus that draws more businesses here.
Capital costs, though, to connect Roanoke to Lynchburg present a formidable obstacle in any case.
A draft report, dated in June, by the staff of the Roanoke Valley Area Metropolitan Planning Organization notes that the D.C. to Lynchburg segment of the statewide rail plan likely "will be a priority due to its favorable capital cost situation. The section from Lynchburg to Roanoke adds capital costs that are disproportionate on a per-mile basis to the Washington, D.C., to Lynchburg segment."
In the short term, the area MPO report recommends pushing for an Amtrak Thruway bus connection with Roanoke if the state gives the Lynchburg route priority funding. In the mid to long term, the transportation planners suggest private fundraising to pay the capital costs of a rail link, literally laying the groundwork for future passenger service.
No one knows if such an idea would fly.
It's best, though, to have a realistic notion of the possibilities for re-establishing rail service that has been gone from Roanoke for almost 30 years -- and a clear understanding of the dynamics that might make it essential once again.
