C-ville Weekly 11.01.05

The soaring cost of gasoline is ruining many families’ ability to budget and derailing their dreams of saving toward a new home, a college education, or a family vacation. For low-income workers, the high cost of just getting to work is making it all-but-impossible to make ends meet. Food and retail prices climb as each truckload of freight costs more then the last one to take goods to market.

We are all paying the price for the nation’s glaring dependence on cheap oil and our chronic unwillingness to plan for and invest in multi-modal transportation. While the short-term solution is to invest in fuel-efficient technologies and roll out hybrid-powered vehicles, the long-term solution is to build a modern transportation system that gives people more choices.

If people have choices, they will choose the most reliable, cost-effective and convenient transportation alternative. At one time in our nation’s history, those needs were filled by intercity passenger rail service. Trains were the staple means of transportation, whether traveling from coast-to-coast or to the nearest town.

But after 50 years of car culture and neglect of our rail infrastructure, the option to take the train has all but disappeared. Over half the miles of track that existed 30 years ago are no longer in service. Only a fraction of the nation’s goods are carried by rail freight. And AMTRAK, the nation’s only interstate passenger rail service, faces death by a thousand cuts from Congress and the Bush Administration.

Our public investments reflect our priorities. In the 25 years between 1977 and 2001, only 4% of the $782 billion federal transportation budget was spent on rail. While 78.7% of Virginia’s Transportation Trust Fund is spent annually on highways, not a single dollar goes to rail. In 2005, Virginia finally established a reliable, dedicated funding source for rail, but the $23 million fund is still only 1% of the state’s transportation budget.

In spite of our neglect, rail makes a significant dent in traffic congestion. In 2003, trains carried enough passengers and freight through Virginia to take 16 million vehicles off the roads. Sixteen million! How many highway projects can you name that have an annual capacity of 16 million vehicles? Virginia Railway Express (VRE) carries enough commuters during daily rush hours in Northern Virginia to take one full lane of traffic off I-95 and I-66 per hour.

The few cases where states have invested in intercity passenger rail amply demonstrate that people will choose rail when frequent, high quality service is available. The Cascades line between Eugene, OR and Vancouver, BC carried 603,000 passengers last year, saving the environment from more than one thousand tons of auto emissions. Higher speeds, comfortable tilting technology, laptop plug-ins, on-board movies and upscale diner fare all contribute to its success. The Cascades met its 12-year ridership goals in the first 3 years.

California’s Capitol Corridor line carries 1.16 million passengers annually between San Jose and Sacramento. In its six years of operation, ridership jumped 152%, revenues increased 110%, and the service has expanded from 8 to 24 trains daily.

We can do the same for Virginia. The signs are encouraging. Virginia's first State Rail Plan was prepared by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation in 2004 and presented to the Governor’s Commission on Rail Enhancement, and a permanent Rail Advisory Board has been established. Groups such as RAIL Solution, Virginians for Better Transportation, Virginians for High Speed Rail and the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons are pressing hard for Virginia to step up funding for rail and for a federal partnership that provides a source of capital funding for rail projects.

Thanks in part to the hardships imposed by rising oil prices, rail has never enjoyed as much demand by both passengers and freight shippers as right now. It’s time to invest in a modern rail network and get America back on track – and onto trains.

Meredith Richards, a former City Councilor, was a member of the Governor’s Commission on Rail Enhancement for the 21^st Century and recently joined the Board of Virginians for High Speed Rail. She has organized Charlottesville Citizens for Better Rail Alternatives (www.cvillerail.org) to promote direct passenger service between Charlottesville and Washington, D.C.