Our daily Amtrak train to D.C. is on the federal chopping block. It’s just not part of the budget. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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I love this service and use if often, but I find Piedmont Rail Coalition’s communications to be confusingly sensationalist. This is perhaps the twelfth time I’ve heard that the service is about to be cancelled. Always in the same breath it is mentioned that the service is wildly popular and has exceeded Amtrak expectations by 2.5 times.
It is reported that 17.2 million was set aside by Virginia for a 3 year pilot of the two lines started in Virginia (Lynchburg/DC and Richmond). Assuming a 50% split, that means that the each train receives $2.86 million per year from the state.
So, the train was estimated to bring in $2.6 million, and also gets a $2.86 million subsidy from the state, that gets us to $5.46 million.
But, due to its success, the train generated $6.4 million in the first year, and maybe more in the second. Prima facie, this would seem to suggest that the service is self-supporting.
I know it must be more complicated than this; I’d love to see an even-keeled explanation of how the train is funded and what are the threats to its continued existence.
I’ve always been confused by those numbers as well.
If it’s generating $6.4 million and covering it’s costs, couldn’t they use the $17.6 million in Federal/State aid to look at other train corridors?
I do love the hypocrisy of our fine Congressmen, Robert Hurt and Bob Goodlatte.
If its making money, then the subsidies should stop but the route should be kept.
It it isn’t making money, the subsidies should also stop.
Are you opposed to subsidizing all forms of transportation, or just rail?
We did not write a story about the latest thread in this ongoing story, but back in June we wrote about some of the underlying issues.
One issue is that the Richmond service and the Lynchburg service are tied together as part of the same contract. The state-funded Richmond service is not as successful, in part because it is competing with four other lines that come through Richmond every day. The daily train from Lynchburg service added reliability allowing Amtrak to fulfill pent-up demand.
This latest story has to do with Congress changing the rules under which this experiment has been conducted. We’ll be paying attention to the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s meeting later this month to see what develops.
Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Waldo, I think any gas tax should support the car/truck infrastructure, likewise air fares and taxes should support airports and the air control system. Trains can be supported by their ticket prices.
Also, the Richmond service should not be tied to Lynchburg when deciding what to keep/kill.
Gotcha—so it’s not that you hold rail service to a different standard, you would just prefer something closer to a libertarian model of funding transportation than what we use now.
It seems rather unfair to hold rail to this standard when we don’t hold airlines and automobiles to this standard, but I assume that you’re actually proposing that we overhaul how all of those are funded, making them based on user fees.