Here's the problem: CSX controls the tracks

August 27, 2008 12:15 am

Glen Cannon ["Can't we do better than a stool and confusion?" Aug. 18] sounds like he is well-traveled. His comment is about train service in the Fredericksburg area.

He states, "The present level of service would not be tolerated in any European country, and would be a source of amazement and scorn in Japan."

One big reason the railroads run better in Europe is because the governments there own and run the railroads.

In the Fredericksburg area, both Amtrak and the Virginia Railway Express are subject to CSX, which owns the tracks in this area.

Amtrak owns the tracks from Washington north; everywhere else the tracks are owned by private railroads.

So the passenger trains in this area are at the mercy of CSX, which frequently changes the tracks a train can be on at the last minute.

I suggest that if Mr. Cannon wants better rail service in this area that he complain to the CEO of CSX--but I can assure him that many others have tried, including local government officials, and his plea will fall on deaf ears.

I am not sure if our federal government could do a better job of running the passenger railroad system than is being done already.

But you can bet there would be more bells and whistles on the platform to let you know when a train was coming in and what track it was going to be on, and we would probably have high-speed rail and an open ticket office.

Tom Chasen

Fredericksburg