Richmond Region Transportation

[Icetera]

RMA approves tentative plan to repay $60 million to city.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jun/21/rma-approves-tentative-plan-repay-60-million-city-ar-1123869/?referer=http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftimesdispatch.com%2Far%2F1123869%2F&h=f70f8&shorturl=http://bit.ly/mthpXC

[burt]

RMA approves tentative plan to repay $60 million to city.

http://www2.timesdis...//bit.ly/mthpXC

Perhaps this repayment will allow the city to reilluminate the fountain in Byrd Park's boat lake.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jun/21/fountain-im-109647/

[burt]

Richmond's Greyhound Bus Station on North Boulevard across from The Diamond baseball park is ranked as one of the top 10 busiest Greyhound terminals in the country. That's a fact that is not bourne out in the following story, but it's true.

Greyhound has just begun Express service between Richmond and New York City.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2011/jun/22/tdbiz01-greyhound-express-launches-richmond-servic-ar-1124671/

[burt]

Amtrak's chief engineer, Frank Vacca, talked to a local audience yesterday about high speed plans for Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

"It's a given it's down to Richmond" said Vacca.

Imagine a 3 hour 6 minute trip from MSS in downtown Richmond to Penn Station in New York City.

So, OK. None of us will be around when it happens, but it's a fantasy trip just to hear those words.

From Peter Bacque in today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2011/jun/25/TDBIZ01-high-speed-rail-will-come-with-high-costs-ar-1132110/

[burt]

Someone posted this on the Raleigh forum. It's a time record of Amtrak trains advising their on-time or late status.

A great help for rail travelers to and from Richmond:

http://www.dixielandsoftware.com/scripts/getmap.pl?mapname=East

[burt]

Someone posted this on the Raleigh forum. It's a time record of Amtrak trains advising their on-time or late status.

A great help for rail travelers to and from Richmond:

http://www.dixieland...pl?mapname=East

I've been checking this chart frequently since I posted it earlier today and NOT ONE SINGLE TRAIN, north or southbound, has been running even close to on-time along the CSX tracks between Richmond and Washington. That also includes trains between Newport News via Richmond's two stations to and from DC.

[burt]

While traffic on Richmond's road system is significant, it does not approach problems in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. In fact, congestion is so bad in Norfolk that the military is crying out for action. Over 125,000 Navy personnel drive on the city's roadways each day.

Navy brass and advisors are calling for widening of I-64 and extension of the Light Rail System to the Naval Base and to Virginia Beach.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...t-s-ar-1157560/

Edited July 7, 2011 by burt

[burt]

Norfolk's brand new 9-mile Light Rail System called The Tide began operations this morning.  Early reports indicate Park & Ride lots as well as trains are at capacity.

If ever there were a near-perfect potential right-of-way for light rail or Bus Rapid Transit, it is Broad Street in Richmond and Henrico between Short Pump in the west and Main Street Station in Shockoe Bottom.  It would run about 13 miles on an 8-lane avenue that is straight as a dye except for one barely discernable directional shift a block west of The Boulevard.  

Some of the major areas it would serve in combination with north/south bus connections are:

Short Pump Town Center

West Broad Village

Innsbrook

Parham Road

Libby Avenue

Wilow Lawn

Interstate 195

The Boulevard (Museum District)

VCU Academic Campus

Adams and Broad (Gallery District)

6th and Broad (Theatre District)

VCU Medical Campus

Main Street Station Transportation Center.

[burt]

Norfolk's TIDE is overwhelmed with riders on its first day.  An official has predicted that over 200,000 may be the passenger count by the end of the day.

Free rides will continue for another week or so.

From today's Virginian Pilot:

http://hamptonroads....-begins-norfolk

[burt]

Correction to above (I simply do not know how to use the new "edit" system.)

20,000 passengers are projected to ride The Tide today -- not the figure I posted above.

[burt]

Richmond really ought to start thinking seriously about light rail on Broad Street.

The Tide in Norfolk began service a couple of weeks ago offering free rides for the first several days.  Then Irene intervened, but halted service for only one day.  Since it restarted last Monday on a commercial basis, business has exceeded expectations.

A Broad Street line in Richmond from Short Pump to Main Street Station offers the potential for heavy usage.  Twice as many people in Richmond work downtown compared to Norfolk, and the line would run directly through both the academic and medical campuses of VCU.

Even if Henrico, like Virginia Beach,  would not participate the line could begin and end at Willow Lawn and operate completely within the city (except for a block or two west of Staples Mill Road.)

Take a look at this Hampton Roads Transit website:

http://www.gohrt.com/

[burt]

Richmond will become a hub for Greyhound Express Bus service.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...ice-ar-1288793/

[burt]

According to The Virginian Pilot, the new light rail line in Norfolk called The Tide has averaged 6,500 riders each day since $1.50 fares were collected starting August 29th.  That's more than double the anticipated daily ridership of 2,900.

[majors2410]

Richmond is planning BRT (bus rapid transit) on Broad Street. Same efficiency with less cost. To make it work they need to increase densities in the corridor. If you go to GRTC's site their info on the study. Henrico will never do anything to help the rest of the region.

Edited September 7, 2011 by majors2410

[burt]

Writer Ed Slipek took a ride on Norfolk's TIDE and has high praise for the brand new light rail line.

From the current Style Weekly:

http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/high-on-tide/Content?oid=1611272

[burt]

Yesterday, The Washington Post revealed that Virginia and North Carolina would be awarded $48 million to advance high(er) speed rail between Raleigh, Richmond and Washington with the hope of cutting running time by 90 minutes between the two state capitals. The planned route is the abandoned ROW of the old Seaboard Airline Railway.

$4 million would go to North Carolina for analysing and preliminary engineering of the Raleigh/Richmond line. The remainder would go to Virginia to improve the rail corridor between Richmond and D.C.

http://www.washingto...Ah2K_story.html

Edited September 29, 2011 by burt

[burt]

TV Channel 3 in Norfolk reports that work is underway on a new passenger train station near Harbor Park in that city.

$100 million, according to the news report, is being provided by the State to upgrade rails for a daily train in each direction connecting Southern Hampton Roads, Richmond (Staples Mill Station) and Washington's Union Station.

The schedule, hopefully to be available next summer, will depart Norfolk at 5AM and arrive in D.C. at 9AM. Return from Washington will be at 3PM with arrival at Harbor Park Station at 7PM.

The assumption from this news story is that passengers will have to change in D.C. for points in the northeast.

http://www.wtkr.com/...0,1271138.story

2 daily trains in each direction from Newport News via Main Street Station in Richmond to and from Boston will continue.

Edited September 30, 2011 by burt

[burt]

This transportation news won't benefit civilians, but it will remove a large number of buses and trucks from I-95 between Petersburg and Milford, Va (Fort A. P. Hill.)

The US Army has taken delivery on the first four bi-level passenger rail cars which will begin transporting military personnel in 2012 between Ft. Lee at Petersburg and Fort A.P. Hill near Bowling Green -- a distance of about 60 miles.

I'm trying to dig up exactly where the departure/arrival point will be at or near Ft. Lee and exactly what route the train will use.

More later.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...pas-ar-1413388/

[Icetera]

This transportation news won't benefit civilians, but it will remove a large number of buses and trucks from I-95 between Petersburg and Milford, Va (Fort A. P. Hill.)

The US Army has taken delivery on the first four bi-level passenger rail cars which will begin transporting military personnel in 2012 between Ft. Lee at Petersburg and Fort A.P. Hill near Bowling Green -- a distance of about 60 miles.

I'm trying to dig up exactly where the departure/arrival point will be at or near Ft. Lee and exactly what route the train will use.

More later.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...pas-ar-1413388/

There is a rail line in the base that ends by the new bridge (which may explain why it was built in such a pedestrian manner) and a nice restored Panzerjäger Tiger "Elefant." I have no idea how they would get to that line from the North, though, so I suspect they may be disembarking at Ettrick Station and shuttling by bus.

[burt]

I found this story on google about the troop transport via rail between Ft. Lee and A.P. Hill.

Apparently, the trains will depart from a siding on the Ft. Lee Base. There is a Norfolk/Southern rail line running between Petersburg and Hopewell which parallels Rt. 36.

I think Norfolk/Southern has two approaches to Petersburg from the east -- one directly into the city and paralleling the Appomattox River. The other is a bypass route sweeping around the south side of the city and interlocking with the CSX North/South Main line.

I suspect the troop train will leave Ft. Lee on the N/S track to the N/S bypass and connect with CSX south of Petersburg, then continue north via Etrick and Staples Mill Stations to Millford in Caroline County.

This is my supposition, but who knows? It is written that the trains will be maintained on base at Ft. Lee.

From the Petersburg Progress Index:

http://progress-inde...5#axzz1c62dry5B

[burt]

I'm not sure how up-to-date this Southeast High Speed Rail plan is -- in fact, I may have posted it elsewhere in this thread.

I'm posting it because the new Shockoe Bottom Plan (see today's entry in Richmond Development topic) doesn't appear to be doing much in support of train traffic (perhaps as many as 32 daily trains) when and (BIG) if the SEHSR dream is ever realized.

WARNING: It is a long PDF file.

http://www.sehsr.org/deis/va_hearing_maps_files/sehsr_van1_psh_01.pdf

[burt]

A personal comment on Amtrak service:

On my recent round-trip New York/Richmond/New York, trains in both directions were on time -- in fact, the return trip to Penn Station arrived 10 minutes early.

There were a couple of scheduling changes -- one pleasing and the other iritating: Apparently a few minutes have been trimmed between the run from Staples Mill to Main Street. It now takes 23 minutes. I believe until recently, it was scheduled as about 27 minutes.

The iritating one was a lay-over of almost an hour in Washington on the northbound 8:00AM train #84 from Staples Mill. The lay-over is built into the schedule. If it were shortened to less than half an hour, the run between Richmond and Penn Station would be less than 6 hours total.

Southbound just prior to Christmas the train was packed to the gills between Penn Station and Union Station in DC and almost full to Richmond and points east. Lots got off at Staples Mill and a goodly number disembarked at Main Street. A few passengers even boarded there. Arrival of that train (#95) is scheduled at 5:12PM at MSS and I was inside the station at exactly that time where maybe 25 people were waiting for the 6:05PM northbound train.

[DalWill]

Any more information on the Bus Rapid Transit system? It could very beneficial for the entire region. And the need for streetcars is a must in this city.

[burt]

Any more information on the Bus Rapid Transit system? It could very beneficial for the entire region. And the need for streetcars is a must in this city.

Welcome, DalWill.

There has been no news about BRT recently, as far as I know.

Nor has there been further discussion on a downtown bus transfer terminal since the Mayor nixed Main Street Station as a site and announced it would be in a new structure on Grace between 6th and 7th across from Richmond CenterStage.

It doesn't look like fixed rail trolleys will return to Richmond, either.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Welcome, DalWill.

There has been no news about BRT recently, as far as I know.

Nor has there been further discussion on a downtown bus transfer terminal since the Mayor nixed Main Street Station as a site and announced it would be in a new structure on Grace between 6th and 7th across from Richmond CenterStage.

It doesn't look like fixed rail trolleys will return to Richmond, either.

Not only that, but if you go to the Broad Street Rapid Transit Study website (http://study.ridegrtc.com/), and read at the top, it will say "we anticipate the next round of public meetings to be held in early spring of 2012."

That is sickening.... NEXT ROUND OF PUBLIC MEETINGS? If GRTC & the city were a little more intelligent, they'd probably realize that now the people want ACTION & RESULTS, not more meetings, studies, or environmental assesments.....

Anyway, it is supposed to a meeting on the "Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA)". But I'm sure that the 1.2 million people of Greater Richmond could probably care less as long as they actually see it running in at least 5 years.... I mean THINK about it! We have to prepare for the Road World Championships in 2015! That's in 3 YEARS! And we all know that even a fast-acting transit system can't build a rapid transit line in 3 years, let alone Richmond, who can't even get the analysis done in 3 years.... the first meeting was held in February of 2010..... so next month it will be 2 years since the 1st public meeting.... without a good transit system, Richmond could fall into a literal chaos with the 400,000 athletes, families, and media roaming and running (or biking) around.... RVA needs to get itself straight and figure out what it wants before its too late, if it isn't already.....

But, on the note of trolleys, according to an old article on BizSense, a man formerly associated with the Segway of Richmond has bought 3-4 "trolley cars" and brought them over to RVA.... but it won't take a detective to figure out that they are just regular ol' buses painted with the words "Richmond Trolley" in big letters on the sides..... but then again, if somehow, they can replace the wheels with those rail-line things, and build rails into the streets, Richmond can have a nice trolley system again, and if everything gets done in 3 years, we can debut it for the 2015 biking champs.

......but we can only dream about that, especially with the pace we're at right now..... :(

Edit: oh yeah, and welcome to the club, DalWill Please excuse our city's sheer slowness in getting things done

Edited January 9, 2012 by RVA-Is-The-Best