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VRE has improved on-time record

August 16, 2007 12:35 am

By KELLY HANNON

Most Virginia Railway Express trains have run on time this summer, thanks in part to a change in CSX Corp. policies on heat restrictions affecting train speeds.

Even with temperatures reaching into the upper 90s, VRE has managed to deliver Fredericksburg Line trains on time 86 percent of the time in June, and 87 percent in July.

That's a gigantic improvement from last summer, when Fredericksburg Line riders had roughly 50-50 odds of pulling into the station on schedule. Flooding and heat restrictions combined last year for an average on-time rate of 60 percent in June 2006 and 47 percent in July 2006.

So far this year, the railway had just three days with heat restrictions in May, five days in June and three days in July.

"It's sort of a confluence of events that have helped us do this," said Mark Roeber, VRE manager of government relations and public affairs.

The Quantico Creek bridge opened, adding track capacity. And CSX has a new dispatch supervisor, he said.

But heat restrictions "are the one that probably rings loudest in the passengers' minds," Roeber said.

CSX requires freight trains to reduce their speed by 10 mph, and passenger trains 20 mph, when restrictions are imposed.

Now, instead of issuing blanket restrictions on hot days from Washington to Richmond, workers examine targeted segments of track, which are owned by the CSX Corp. of Jacksonville, Fla.

Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, pressed the heat restriction issue with the company.

Houck inserted an amendment in the state budget that linked more than $60 million in Rail Enhancement Fund improvements to a mandatory conversation with top CSX officials about the company's heat restriction policy.

Houck's amendment asked the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to execute an operating agreement that improved passenger service, including looking at heat restrictions, before the Rail Enhancement funds were released.

Houck credits CSX for being responsive. "I think the budget language required them to come to the table," Houck said. His constituents have noticed the difference. "The response I've gotten from the riders has been very positive," Houck said.

Steve Dunham, a VRE commuter from Spotsylvania and chairman of Virginia Association of Railway Patrons, said service is notably better this summer.

"There seem to be fewer," late trains, Dunham said.

Nevertheless, the VRE still has challenges.

Antiquated equipment is one of them. VRE plans to purchase more than 20 locomotives, which would reduce the number of breakdowns that delay and cancel trains.

VRE has ordered 61 new double-decker passenger cars, and has begun adding them to both lines as they are delivered.

In the humidity of summer, commuters feel the air-conditioning limits of the older cars. Dunham knows to keep walking when he passes through a car that's half full. "It's still common to find cars that cannot keep up with the heat," he said.

Riders have returned to VRE as service has improved. An additional 20,000 riders caught VRE trains this year than at the same point last year, a 1.9 percent growth rate for both lines.

But passenger counts are not where VRE would like them.

VRE plans to embark on a marketing campaign this fall to encourage people to ride the trains, according to a report Dale Zehner, VRE's chief executive officer, will deliver at a VRE Operations Board meeting tomorrow.

The agency has already taken some unusually accommodating steps to keep riders. They offer free ride certificates for trains 60 minutes late or more. (It used to be 30 minutes, but was lengthened this year to save money). And commuters who are late picking up children from child-care centers can have late fees paid by VRE up to four times a year.

After poor on-time performance last year, fare prices were held constant this year.

VRE will target younger riders in the campaign, Roeber said. Federal workers are retiring in large numbers, and VRE wants to ensure commuters replacing them in the Fredericksburg area know that nine times out of 10, VRE will get them to work, or home, on time, he said. "On time" means within five minutes of the schedule.

"I'd say nowhere will you find those odds on the highway," Roeber said.