Virginia passenger service (was Elliston Yard)

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

About a year or so ago I read in the Roanoke Times how Norfolk Southern was supporting helping Virginia get passenger trains running again.  I've got that paper somewhere.  What ever happened to that idea???  Did it leave with Governer Warner?
   
  Anyway, Interstate 81 is an overcrowded mess, expecially between Roanoke and Bristol.  I recently travelled 81 in its entirety in Virginia, and once I got north of Roanoke, the congestion eased up a lot.  And, as I returned, after getting near Roanoke on southward, the congestion got worse.  I live in Marion, about a hundred miles from Roanoke, and when I travel around here I take Route 11 instead of this overcrowded and congested interstate.  And yes, the trucks are what makes it that way.
   
  Living right beside the tracks, I can see from my vantage point a perfectly good location for a passing track that is not being used anymore, and an underutilized rail corridor.  It would be nice if this could be used for what it was intended:  To haul freight and passengers.  I set in my back yard sometimes and just think about how many people have travelled by this place on a train heading for destinations all over the country, and the world for that matter.  For reasons of necessity and practicallity, I wish the state would reestablish that again, and subsidize it.  I know the railroads won't do it by themselves.    
   
  If it were up to me, I'd take a train to Roanoke, or Richmond, or D.C., and let the trucks have the Interstate, but I don't have that choice.  So, I take the highways, and scenic byways, and leave the interstates to the 40 ton rigs who drive on it like they own it.  Besides, my one ton car doesn't stand a chance against one of them if the unthinkable happens.
   
  This subject has got me wondering again.  Does anyone think passenger rail in Virginia will ever be reestablished?
   
  Ben Blevins
   
   
  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:
          Mr. Stowers is right on this one !  It's NS using the smoke screen that THEY will take trucks off  I-81 to get the state to pay for improvements that they don't want to afford.  It will simply not happen, it will of course add trucks to I - 81 and to route 460/11.  Remember that during the Conrail takeover NS said that THEY would take "one million trucks off  of  I-81 a year". Virginia taxpayers will fall for this one, however when it comes to passenger rail Virginia doesn't have a penny to spare. 
   
  By the way if you gather I'm against the location you would be right.  It will take my family's third generation farm, which my grandfather who was a conductor on the Radford Div. found while working between Roanoke and Bluefield.  The floor beams in the house are made (and are stamped) N&W RR.  All the outbuildings are made of N&W RR boxcars which were salvaged after a wreck near the house in the 30's. The red paint can still be seen on the buildings along with the markings.   Oh well, so much for "progress".
   
  Chuck Akers
  Engineer - Radford Div./ Amtrak - Richmond, VA

 		
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