Amtrak's Roanoke-New River Valley Extension

[Anderson]

A third track is being built, but a fourth track isn’t possible with the current right of way. Supposedly the new track will allow for 90MPH operation, but if CSX is in control, I don’t see that happening. 

At least in the past, IIRC CSX has said they're open to 90 MPH operation.  It was NS that put the cap at 79 MPH.  Also, with the third track I think the deal was/is that one track (the pax-dedicated one) would allow for 90 MPH.  The third track (freight-only) would probably be capped at 79 MPH if in use.  The middle track (mixed use) is anybody's guess.

 

[Thirdrail7]

*Later on, what should have been done/should be done is a swap to give CSX either a bridge or a tunnel at Dahlgren/La Plata in exchange for VA (or an agency) getting control of Dahlgren Junction to the junction in Washington (with local freight from CSX and any access-rights freight from NS allowed but all other through freight being sent around DC).  Ideally you'd stretch that to just south of Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania with a bypass there as well, and voila, the Fredericksburg Line has a near-blank check while VA could then (in theory) extend as many Regionals as they wanted down to FBG without much ado.  At that point I think we enter into "negotiate with Amtrak to move their facilities from Ivy City to a nice, new yard in Spotsylvania County"...  Yes, I wish this would happen, and it probably isn't impossibly expensive with federal matching funds...just obnoxiously so.

To tell you the truth, no one thought VRA would stick around for that long. This is particularly true when CSX was having a lot of incidents and delays were through the roof.  Ridership plummeted.

Additionally,  not too many people were predicting the Amtrak/Virginia renaissance. There was talk if cutting service, not adding a bunch of extensions. At the time, it wouldn't make sense for Virginia to jump on the hook for a bunch of trackage.

We're ALL paying the price for the lack of railroad vision.

The question is, will anyone ever learn?

 

[Anderson]

To tell you the truth, no one thought VRA would stick around for that long. This is particularly true when CSX was having a lot of incidents and delays were through the roof.  Ridership plummeted.

Additionally,  not too many people were predicting the Amtrak/Virginia renaissance. There was talk if cutting service, not adding a bunch of extensions. At the time, it wouldn't make sense for Virginia to jump on the hook for a bunch of trackage.

We're ALL paying the price for the lack of railroad vision.

The question is, will anyone ever learn?

I'm reminded of what has bedeviled a number of projects: There's a time when neither the freight operator nor the local transit people really want the line...and then they both want it.  IIRC this has cropped up around Denver (there was at least one line that was for sale for a lot less than it was initially sold for), DC (there was an offered deal on the Brunswick Line, apparently...CSX would have needed freight access but was willing to allow MARC access for an extra track, etc.), and California (IIRC the Coast Line was offered for sale at one time).

 

[railiner]

I'm reminded of what has bedeviled a number of projects: There's a time when neither the freight operator nor the local transit people really want the line...and then they both want it.  IIRC this has cropped up around Denver (there was at least one line that was for sale for a lot less than it was initially sold for), DC (there was an offered deal on the Brunswick Line, apparently...CSX would have needed freight access but was willing to allow MARC access for an extra track, etc.), and California (IIRC the Coast Line was offered for sale at one time).

Curious...which line around Denver are you referring to?   To me, the biggest error was when they abandoned the former Santa Fe line thru Colorado Springs, years ago...and right before the boom in unit coal trains....the tracks running southwest from Union Station was another error, IMHO....

 

[Anderson]

I'm pretty sure this was the the tracks heading southwest incident.  I don't recall the agencies there ever seriously looking at acquiring the line down to Colorado Springs.

 

[Anthony V]

Excuse me for reviving an old thread, but I have a question regarding the subject of the thread. Why won't the Commonwealth of Virginia take NS to the Surface Transportation Board to force the railroad to participate in the required capacity study? Using Amtrak's guaranteed track access provision, they can show the STB that Norfolk Southern's refusal to participate in the study is effectively illegally denying Amtrak access. In that case, the STB could then force NS to participate in the study under the guaranteed track access provision in the law that created Amtrak.

 

[Anderson]

Probably because VA has too damned many irons in the fire with the various studies that are going on. VA can punt for a bit and not have people idle for now.