05/30/02

BY HAWES SPENCER

The prospect sparked high excitement. By 2003, sleek new Italian-made train cars would slide through Charlottesville four times a day, making possible elegant air-cushioned day trips to D.C. and back.

With federally subsidized Amtrak barely mustering three trains a day through Charlottesville-- only one of them to D.C.-- the TransDominion Express seemed to promise a rail revival. The General Assembly even chipped in $9.3 million for planning.

Unfortunately for its backers, the program has temporarily derailed. Norfolk Southern, the freight railroad that owns most of the tracks on which the new service would operate, disagreed with a state estimate that track upgrades would cost $10 million. To ensure that its freight trains will stay on time, the company wants to add lots of pull-off spots-- called rail sidings-- to the tune of $120 million.

"The tab keeps going up," says City Councilor Meredith Richards, who serves on the new service's steering committee.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope. If the state pitches in to double-track the now single-track rail line parallel to I-81, many of Norfolk Southern's siding needs will be reduced, according to Alan Tobias, the Richmond-based planner with the Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

There's another reason for hope. Despite budget woes severe enough to practically halt road building, the state has not cut alternative transportation funding, Richards says.

But $120 million? "It's probably going to need some federal funding," says Richards, who is the Democratic nominee for the Congressional seat currently held by Republican Virgil Goode.

But would-be commuters shouldn't despair quite yet. On-going studies are considering ways to make daily D.C. round-trips feasible.

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