N L - Railroad Policy in Virginia: How We Got Where We Are

Those two decades, state was only slightly impacted, the most signifi- which coincide with the construction of much of cant direct case being that of the former Pennsylva- the modern Interstate Highway System and the nia Railroad line down the Delmarva Peninsula to rise of commercial jet aviation, saw the financial Cape Charles, which extends by means of a Ches- condition of the private rail syste. [...] The Commonwealth of Virginia With the SCC largely out of the game and in assumed no responsibility for Amtrak’s intercity the absence of a comprehensive rail policy posi- rail passenger service, took little or no interest, tion of the General Assembly, the incumbent and with a few minor exceptions, would not for governor, John N. [...] The purpose of greatest potential for commercial success of any of the relocation was to make the former rail yard the other corridors examined around the U. [...] The north-south corridor, a intercity rail in Virginia since the 1830 commit- system involving two roughly parallel rail routes ment by the State Board of Public Works to sub- with several cross connections one to the other, scribe to 40 percent of the stock in the Petersburg had long been the subject of studies, planning, Rail Road Company. [...] • The risk of loss of rail freight lines in South- • The Department of Rail and Public Trans- west Virginia is increasing and should be portation must find the means and make the promptly analyzed, given the diminishing effort to actively oversee the operation, mar- volumes of coal being transported over some keting and financial aspects of the October 1, of those lines.