Members of Charlottesville City Council, Albemarle Board of Supervisors and Metropolitan Planning Organization are working to obtain funding for a proposed railroad project that would link Charlottesville with Crozet.
Ann Mallek, vice chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the idea for a train connection stemmed from an ongoing conversation throughout the past several years with John Pfaltz, a member of the technology committee for the MPO and research professor for the University. Pfaltz said he envisioned the railroad as an alternative to an over-congested U.S. Route 250.
“There’s no money and there’s no will to make new roads,” Pfaltz said. He added that if the rail service were created, he believes that University employees would comprise about two-thirds of its patrons.
Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said rail use is growing in popularity.
“Right now there is a lot of interest on the federal level in expanding passenger rail in this country,” which corresponds with a substantial increase in funding from the federal stimulus package.
Mallek said the three groups recently began writing to senators and congressmen including Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., to secure $95,000 for a well-trained railway consultant, who would conduct a feasibility study and make a proposal to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
“What Ann Mallek and I and Norris need is a well-designed proposal to the Virginia Department of Transportation,” Pfaltz said.
Pfaltz said the study would take between six to nine months before a project proposal could be made, and “to get everything running would take about two years.”
The rail service would be operated by the Buckingham Branch Railroad, which owns the railway that runs behind the Corner. Although the track already exists, it is used mostly by Amtrak and freight trains. For a passenger train to run, an extensive length of side track would have to be added to the currently existing rail so that when trains are coming from the other direction, the other train can pull off — a “pretty costly proposition,” Norris said.
“I don’t know personally if there are enough people out there to cover the expense of running a train back and forth,” Albemarle County Board member Kenneth Boyd said. He noted that if the train cost $5 million annually — a hypothetical estimate — and the city expected that it would only earn $100,000 revenue annually, the city probably would not go through with the project.
Buckingham Branch Railroad, meanwhile, is enthusiastic about the idea if a few conditions are met, Pfaltz said. For instance, the company wants to line the tracks near the Corner with a fence, Pfaltz said, because “the railroad has a terrible time with drunken students on the track.”
Norris expressed confidence that officials will continue to explore the project’s possibilities, highlighting the environmentally friendly nature of rail travel.
“It is our belief that wherever there are opportunities to provide alternatives to single occupancy vehicles, we should pursue them,” he said.
Should the city secure funding for the project, Pfaltz said he believes that possible future expansions could take place. He added that there are a number of people who would like to see the proposed railway extend westward to Staunton and eastward to Gordonsville in the future.
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