(rshsdepot) Richmond, VA

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)

November 24, 2003 Monday City Edition

MAINE RAIL-SERVICE ADVOCATE OFFERS EXAMPLE FOR VIRGINIA

Chip Jones

Before becoming a rail activist in Maine, Wayne Davis "was just a banker who
never paid much attention" to state government or transportation.
It took a close call on an air plane runway to get his attention.

Addressing the Richmond Friends of Rail last week, Davis described the
harrowing moment in the early 1980s aboard an airplane landing in Newark,
N.J. A tire blew, and the airplane skidded down the runway. There was smoke,
flames and screaming.

"I said, 'OK, that's it. I will go nowhere again by plane,'*" said Davis, a
former top executive with BankEast Corp. of Portland, Maine.
But as a banker, he still had to travel, especially to Boston. If he didn't
fly, his only alternative was driving. That became a tiring - and itself
harrowing - experience of its own as interstate traffic became
bumper-to-bumper in the 1980s.

Davis wondered why he couldn't ride the train from his hometown to Boston.
Passenger rail service had ended in 1961. But when he visited his state's
transportation office and inquired about Amtrak, a bored-looking bureaucrat
replied, "You mean, like choo-choos?"

Undeterred, Davis started an advocacy group - Train Riders/Northeast - that
helped push a rail bill through the Maine Legislature.

Richmond rail advocates could no doubt relate to the time and perseverance
it took Davis to achieve his dream of bringing trains back to the city.

Davis was told in late 1989 that Amtrak's trains would return by 1993. In
fact, it took until December 2001 to bring passenger rail service back to
Maine.

Today, the train - called the Downeaster - makes four round trips a day
between Portland and Boston, he said. It carried more than 220,000
passengers in 2002 and generated surplus revenue of $1.4 million, according
to Davis.

"Build it and they will come - that's what happened," he said.

It's that kind of dream that seems to drive the Friends of Rail. The
Richmond-based advocacy group is part of the nonprofit organization,
Virginians for High Speed Rail.

At last week's meeting, state Transportation Secretary Whitt Clement noted
the impending reopening of Main Street Station - now slated for Amtrak
service on Dec. 18 - after a more than 28-year hiatus.

Virginia actually beats Maine in the numbers game of passenger rail, with
estimated ridership of 400,000 in the Richmond to Washington corridor alone.
That includes eight round trips a day between Richmond and Washington,
Clement said.

That number will increase by two trips a day, he said, after Main Street
reopens.

Renovating the more than century-old station cost $51.6 million, and there
are plenty of other bumps ahead.

For example, Clement said, the state is still trying to come up with the
money needed to improve the railroad linking Main Street Station and the
regular Amtrak station on Staples Mill Road in Henrico County.

"There are no simple or inexpensive solutions," Clement said. He noted the
state's transportation fund cannot be used for rail improvements. The
General Assembly last approved state funds for improving rail service in
2000 with a more than $65 million appropriation, Clement said.

Without federal transportation grants, he said, "We would not have the
ability to make improvements," Clement said.

But with the Main Street Station renaissance, December could start a new era
in local rail travel.

A free open house at the station - located at 1500 E. Main St. - is set for
Dec. 5 from 5 to 9 p.m.

The city has promised live music, free train rides for children, and other
events.

With so much promise, Richmond's classic station could help Virginia match
some of the excitement generated by Maine's rail advocate. For business and
leisure travelers alike, Davis said, "The train very quickly became part of
people's lives."

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #798
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org