First, the Manassas line.
The Manassas line currently only runs to the Broad Run/Airport station in Manassas. There is A LOT of pressure being put on VRE by land developers to extend that line to Haymarket. VRE is serious about this idea, they want to see it too. VRE is looking at several extension plans but I have not heard anything more solid than the Haymarket extension.
The Sounder trains that currently run on the Manassas line belong to Sound Transportation of Seattle, WA; and the lease expired in July 2006. Negotiations to keep them have failed and Sounder has given VRE until the end of 2006 to return one of the units and until the end of 2007 to return the other. VRE was counting on the purchase of 50 new train cars to modernize its cosists on both lines BUT... although the funding was approved by the Federal Government, County Governments fom concerned counties, and the Commonwealth of Virginia, transportation funding for this area was reduced in the current state budget at the last minute, leaving a 17 million dollar shortfall. While nobody has said that this breaks the 50 car purchase deal, VRE is concerned and this will have a ripple effect on how soon expansion can be approved.
Now regarding the Fredericksburg line...
It is important to understand that while the tracks between Manassas and Alexandria are owned and operated by Norfolk Southern, the tracks between Fredericksburg and Alexandria, and on up to Union Station, are owned and operated by CSX. CSX is (a) kind of a pain to work with, (b) always causing delays, and (c) in the middle of a major tie replacement project between Alexandria (AF) and Fredericksburg. Threfore it can be assumed that there will be no near-term expansions on that line; especially as Amtrak already serves points south along the same track.
A couple of other things to understand in sizing up the whole situation:
The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a transportation partnership of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC). However, their operators, conductors, and most of their maintenance employees are Amtrak personnel. That means not only lease negotiations with two separate railroads, but cross-railroad labor negotiations. It also means that Amtrak's woes are, in part, VRE's woes. However, the fact that Amtrack supports the local commuter infrastructure is points in favor of Amtrak's funding and survivability.
VRE is building two state-of-the-art maintenance facilities and will soon be transitioning train maintenance off of Amtrak's burden. That's where the money is being spent right now and it makes sense for future VRE expansion capabilities.
For further details, e-mail
[email protected] or surf the VRE website at
http://www.vre.org. (Do the website anyway. This is how trains SHOULD operate!)