Another train could solve traveling issue

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: July 7, 2008

Culpeper County and the town joined 19 other localities Monday in getting on board with better passenger train service along the U.S. 29 corridor.

The proposal, possible through a public-private partnership with Amtrak, would require a $1.9 million annual investment from the state to pay for operations.

The rising Culpeper Rail Coalition — an offshoot of the Piedmont Rail Coalition — gathered at the Depot Monday afternoon to support the initiative with a letter to Gov. Tim Kaine asking for his support.

“We are so reliant on the automobile today and our arteries are choked,” said Culpeper Rail Coalition member Walt Cheatle of Trigon Development.

“Anything we can do to solve our transportation problem,” he said of his support for enhanced rail service.

Similar gatherings took place in Charlottesville and Lynchburg Monday, all in effort to turn state legislators’ attention to the Piedmont — a region Amtrak itself identified as the most underserved in the state.

The proposed daily Amtrak train would start in Lynchburg, departing at 5:05 a.m., stopping in Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas and Alexandria before arriving in D.C.’s Union Station at 8:40 a.m.

Southbound, the train would leave D.C. around 5 p.m. daily and make all the same stops before arriving in Lynchburg about four hours later, where it would layover for servicing, according to Amtrak’s report for “Advancing Passenger Rail in the commonwealth of Virginia.”

Currently, Culpeper and points south along U.S. 29 in the Virginia Piedmont are served with a single daily Amtrak train — the Crescent — which traverses a much longer route from N.Y. to New Orleans using the Norfolk Southern tracks and is therefore more likely to be behind schedule.

“I want there to be a train that I can take to D.C. so I can go to the Smithsonian any time I want,” said Dorothy Campbell, a Culpeper resident mobilizing support for the second train.

“Here we have all this growth and the gas prices going out of sight and no reliable train service.”

Campbell and a fellow citizen have gathered about 350 signatures in support of the localized daily Amtrak.

State funding for the initiative requires approval from the Commonwealth Transportation Board, a state body also considering enhanced rail service to serve the I-95 corridor — an area Campbell, a former L.A. City school teacher, felt already has enough trains.

“Excuse me, we are the ones who are underserved,” she said at Monday’s event in Culpeper.

Culpeper Town Councilman Chris Snider, a member of the Piedmont Rail Coalition and co-organizer of the Culpeper division, organized Monday’s news conference at the Depot to generate support and awareness for a service Amtrak says it could start within two years.

“Our intent is to keep this at the forefront,” Snider said of his intentions to ask the D.C. City Council and local Chamber of Commerce for their endorsements of a resolution already supported by 21 localities statewide.

“We are not going to leave any stone unturned,” he added. “Anyone who can give us money, we’re going to ask.”

In the future, as upgrades and expansions are required to the Norfolk Southern tracks, — which the second Amtrak would traverse — local contributions for the much more costly initiative could be required, Snider said.

For example, the Culpeper County of Board of Supervisors could impose a 2-cent gas tax to raise funding for the rail project.

“It’s something I am considering,” said Salem Supervisor Tom Underwood, in attendance at Monday’s Depot gathering.

“But it is difficult to support a gas tax increase with record high gas prices on the front page every day.”

However, he said he expected gas prices would eventually drop.

The big question, said Snider, is, “When you take a vehicle off the road and put that person on a train how much are you saving in road maintenance?”

Jim Charapich, new executive director of the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce, said he would ask his membership to support the rail initiative as well.

“Personally, I don’t see a downside to rail,” he said.

“It would improve economic development because it brings people in.”

Amtrak recommends the new service be implemented “as soon as possible,” Piedmont Rail Coalition Chairperson Meredith Richards wrote in the June 30 letter to Gov. Kaine.

“Amtrak’s proposed direct Piedmont corridor service would be very cost effective and could have a major impact on transportation in Virginia,” she wrote.

“We are counting on you to join us to make better rail service between central Virginia and Washington a reality.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or

Who’s on board?
Around the Piedmont, 21 localities recently — and unanimously — passed resolutions supporting a daily Amtrak train from Lynchburg to D.C. stopping along the way in Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas and Alexandria.

The proposal, which could happen in two years time, would require an annual investment from the state of $1.9 million. Here’s who’s on board with it:
Albemarle County, Altavista, Amherst County, Appomattox County, Bedford County, Campbell County, Charlottesville, Culpeper County, town of Culpeper, Fauquier County, Fluvanna County, Greene County Board of Supervisors and Industrial Development Authority, Louisa County, Lynchburg City Council and Industrial Development Authority, Nelson County, town of Orange, Region 2000, Rappahannock-Rapidan Planning District and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District