Passenger train idea ... Ooooh noooo

[NW Mailing List]

On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 1:43 AM, Bob wrote a great proposal for expanded
passenger service:

OK … Get out your machetes, slip on your ass-kicking storm trooper boots
> and let the fur fly.
>
> I suppose other brilliant minds have had the same or similar idea as that
> which I ran past you. I haven't seen such an idea and so that's why I'm
> posting my thoughts here now. In the longer-term, I can see this train
> departing in the afternoon from Knoxville and even earlier from Nashville.
> Obviously, that would call for a third train set.
>

Actually, yes, there is a clamor for more trains. Bristol was long tagged
as the start/end point in a passenger rail study done years ago. At that
time, it was proposed that a train would depart Bristol and split at
Lynchburg, with one section continuing north (as the service does now) and
another section going east to serve Richmond. One of the many sticking
points (funding being a big one) was a request/demand from Norfolk Southern
for signal and siding improvements on the Bristol Line to accommodate both
their trains and the passenger train.

The Lynchburg train is the first piece realized from this state study. The
extension to Roanoke is step two, followed by the long-drawn-out process
that it will take to get the train to the New River Valley. There are
people in Bristol who are pushing now to see that their city finally
becomes the end point, sooner instead of 20 years from now. There are also
rumblings that some people in Knoxville are seeking Amtrak service, tagged
onto the end of the Virginia train (Amtrak and the country really missed
the train when the World's Fair -- touting energy efficiency -- by not
running a train from Washington, D.C. to the fair). At any rate, in a
perfect world, the could be a train running from Washington, D. C. (with
all the connections there) to Lynchburg, Roanoke, NRV, Bristol, and
Knoxville -- with a choice there of continuing to Chatanooga and Atlanta or
turning west to Nashville and Memphis.

With all those options, sleeper service would not be out of the question.

Keep pushing the ideas, Bob.

Bruce in Blacksburg
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