Virginia Railway Express sees growth, challenges in 2011

VRE's top 10 ridership days ever were logged in the past 12 months.

"It's clearly one of the most exciting years in the history of VRE," said Paul Milde, a Stafford County supervisor who is finishing his term as chairman of the railway's Operations Board, a job that he will turn over Friday to Fairfax Supervisor Sharon Bulova.

Milde said 2011 will bring more developments--wireless Internet on trains, expanded parking at Stafford stations, new locomotives.

And new riders keep piling onto the platform.

VRE has already set a new ridership record in 2011. On Thursday, Jan. 6, it carried 19,912 passengers, almost breaking the 20,000 mark, considered to be VRE's upper limit.

We are reaching capacity on the VRE system," said Fredericksburg City Councilman Fred Howe III, the city's representative on the VRE Operations Board.


http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011 ... 011/599684

Did VRE choose to sell its old rolling stock too quickly?

I was thinking the same thing but where would they put it all, yard space in the Coach Yard isn't getting any bigger. One of my ideas that I think would work is VRE getting space in Jersey Yard, that would put them in close proximity to Union Station and there is already established track. Tie the 1 track into CP-VIRGINIA and there ya go.

Davis

not to mention that it is all beat to $h1t and worn out at well over 30 years old...

They are actually trying to get approval to buy 50 more bi-levels and the 20 MP36s should support a couple more trains as they only need about 12 or 14 minimum IIRC

If you read the on-line chat archives, the problem is not the availability of equipment, but the lack of mid-day storage space. Given more yard space, they could probably redistribute the cars to accommodate ridership much better.

If one can't store trains in DC, how about reverse peak service to an outer yard?

Both lines can see great growth but the line that is really expanding is the Fredericksburg Line. The F'Burg line is really too long to feasibly and economically run reverse-peak trains. The Manassas Line is at a length where reverse peak trains work and they actually do run trains back and forth during the rushes. I would say that they actually need both more cars and more capacity. There's really an unlimited amount of service they could offer with so many people on the highways that could easily make the switch. VRE is approaching the threshold of their infrastructure and thats good and bad. Good because its successful, bad because they're hitting a limit during a time of growth.

Davis

strench707 wrote:Both lines can see great growth but the line that is really expanding is the Fredericksburg Line. The F'Burg line is really too long to feasibly and economically run reverse-peak trains. The Manassas Line is at a length where reverse peak trains work and they actually do run trains back and forth during the rushes. I would say that they actually need both more cars and more capacity. There's really an unlimited amount of service they could offer with so many people on the highways that could easily make the switch. VRE is approaching the threshold of their infrastructure and thats good and bad. Good because its successful, bad because they're hitting a limit during a time of growth.

Davis

The RF&P is an issue all to its own that has certainly been covered at length here. The capacity is there, but the ball gets dropped squarely on CSX for this one, not VRE. The whole AF-Virginia nightmare is the next issue unless the additional trains are marketed strictly towards Union-bound folks and skip Crystal and L'Enfant, as I doubt there will ever be #2 track side platforms....although that HUGE swing east #1 track makes at Crystal almost makes me think that someone had plans of a platform on that side in the future. All it takes is one hiccup, and it could be something as simple as, say, the ADA lift malfunctioning at L'Enfant(which makes me NUTS), and its GAME OVER. Bad signals for all. I give BD dispatch much credit for keeping that stretch running as well as it does....essentially we're running on a single-track RR.

Yeah I hope something gets going soon in that area. Basically from RO to Virginia you are right its single track because they all have to be on #3 for L'Enfant. CSX gets hung up in that area too. Many times when I have been railfanning there's a SB CSX waiting at L'ENFANT on the 1 track for a NB passenger to pass through before it then can proceed on 2. Does anyone know if CSX plans on adding a fourth track AF to RO? All of the signal gantries are spaced out for an additional track and the SB AF bridge has had a bagged signal over the vacant track space for a while now. Where the 1 track bows out in CC is actually where the tracks started bowling out fro Potomac Yards at the North end. There used to be tracks in the middle space and they would stage trains to come out of the yard there. CSX has completely messed with the trackwork through there and that's really all that remains of the Pot. Yard leads. I applaud everyone at VRE CSX and Amtrak for making it through that area every day, you guys are doing great!

Davis

Thanks for the kudos, we try I don't know about the 4th track idea....the rail bed is still there along with the UG bridge at Alexandria, so I guess it could be done, but then theres the Long Bridge. NOT holding my breath on that one. Plus the 30mph curve at L'enfant....I don't think you will ever see speeds much higher than what they are now. The Long Bridge is 45mph with 40 restrictions on both sides(and its not worth trying to get up to 45). Compare that with Portal on the NEC....that bridge is 60 with 562 signaling. I've read in the VRE forums more than once people have complained about the "slow speeds" across the bridge. You got what you got once you hit RO.

I like riding standing in the front cab car window (you may see me riding at some point) and when we round the curve at RO I feel the speed change. Riding across Long Bridge it always feels like the cab car is bouncing up and down and swaying side to side a bit. The bridge decking seems to have kind of gone to crap and its definitely not set up for anything more than CSX gives it speed-wise. If they ever do rip that thing down I say replace it with a 4 track monster bridge just to take care of any traffic issues but of course that's just a pipe dream. You're definitley right about there being nothing to really do for speeds. If you are expressing L'Enfant on 2 you still get the Medium signal at L'ENFANT (coming either SB or NB) and stopping at L'Enfant you are already slowing down. One speed restriction that I do not understand is the 25mph from VIRGINIA to A through the tunnel. Its all concrete ties and seems better than the track across Long Bridge. I understand its 15mph from A all the way to the platforms but it seems like you would want every bit of room to wiggle on the schedule and the tunnels seem like a logical improvement.

Davis

strench707 wrote:One speed restriction that I do not understand is the 25mph from VIRGINIA to A through the tunnel. Its all concrete ties and seems better than the track across Long Bridge. I understand its 15mph from A all the way to the platforms but it seems like you would want every bit of room to wiggle on the schedule and the tunnels seem like a logical improvement.

Davis

LOL the first time I came through there at exactly 25 I thought the cab car was gonna whack the tunnel wall!! Look at the concrete tie dust.....that is not a happy section of track, in addition to the curve in the tunnel.
Also remember that there are no cab signals once you clear Virginia and the best signal you'll get at the portals is an Approach Slow...

Ah okay I made the assumption that it was well-maintained track because it was concrete ties but obviously that's not the case. They must have used concrete since it gets damp int eh tunnel and they didn't want wood ties to rot or something. I have seen the signs coming NB off the CSX main that say END CCS so that must be the spot right at under the SB signal bridge. I wonder if CSX made a typo on those signs as all of the others say CSS (Cab Signal Sytem) and those say CCS, kinda weird lol. I always wondered how Cabs worked when leaving Cab territory. Do they drop to Restricting or do they just keep the indication of the last signal in cab territory?

Davis

I'm not going to say its not well-maintained, but not only do you have a long sweeping left hand curve, when you come over the Virginia Ave bridge the roadbed kinda takes a nosedive. Thinking these heavier cars beat the track up in that spot. You lose the code in the rail a few feet after the sign, where yes, they will drop to Restricting. Same goes for AF when headed onto the NS...as soon as you lose the code in the rail, drops to Restricting, acknowledge and flip the switch....

The Manassas Line has more capacity for reverse peak movements because nothing really uses that line. NS through freights use the B-Line to reach the Northeast via Hagerstown, but CSX through freights are stuck winding their way through DC and the RF&P which already hosts considerable Amtrak traffic. Anyway, Crystal City's single platform is a problem that needs to be addressed. Also I believe there is some room for a new Pot Yard to store trains during the mid day. Thinking a bit more outside the box there is room next to QN Tower north of the current coach yard for 2 or 3 more storage tracks, even with that bike route they put in. It could be reached w/o impacting CSX operations on their main line.

For the near term I would propose what I call the Raritan Valley Line solution and simply terminate some trains at Alexandria and have riders make the cross platform transfer to Metro. There are a bunch of NS yard tracks south of AF that could be converted or expanded into a small VRE yard. If Metro could be brought on board they could have a train pull out of the yard, connect with VRE and then run express downtown. Who the hell else uses the yellow line.

I always wondered how Cabs worked when leaving Cab territory. Do they drop to Restricting or do they just keep the indication of the last signal in cab territory?

It depends. I have heard that on former Conrail freight units w/o speed control the signal just sits at restricting, but I also know that cut-in/out loops exist to automatically enable the locomotive based CSS equipment. I suspect there is no one answer and in some places the cabs get cut automatically and in others it is a manual process. Speaking of the CSS it strikes me as strange that CSX would still keep that stretch of track through DC as non-CSS territory. Every train passing through there has to have CSS equipment yet CSX is too cheap to install the code units between RO and CP-VIRGINIA.

Yeah I find it crazy how NS still maintains two decent mainline tracks between DC and Manassas wit their few customers and trains. Crystal City is an issue but it is nice how CSX installed the 45MPH turnout at SLATERS LANE so VREs can get onto No.3 from 2. If they did something at pot Yard the trains still would have to deadhead from DC, which I don't think CSX would be a fan of and would kind of spread VRE's operations out more, still a viable idea if CSX went along with it. I find the QN idea pretty reasonable, I like it! You are right though it is a bit cramped, wouldn't really factor long-term expansion but a good start I think.

Also, a viable idea but I don't know how much VRE riders would like it. They didn't like the L'Enfant terminus idea and I can't really say what their reception of making ALX a terminus would be. I think if yo cut short any of them L'Enfant was a good idea, I don't know why people shot it down. L'Enfant you get 4 out of the 5 (soon 5 out of the 6 with the Silver) Metro Lines and you are in a pretty job-filled area, a lot of government people get off there. Using that trains could additionally go into Jersey Yard (with the addition of a 2 to 1 crossover) and also go into the VRE STUB TRACK which is CSX's name for it even though VRE has yet to use it. A combination of revitalizing Jersey Yard's trackwork and Mike's idea near QN and you've got like 10 more sets worth of parking.

I think with any truncated service there is going to passenger complaints. Because it just so happens that Rider A's train will be one of the trains that ends in L'Enfant or ALX and he wants to go to DC. Riders are going to have to realize that if they want to expand service its going to be one of their trains that gets adjusted and there's sadly no way around that.

Thanks Cobra and Mike for the additional Cab Signal info. I thought that there was CSS between RO and VIRGINIA but I was mistaken. As I previously mentioned coming NB out of CP-VIRGINIA and onto the lines into the tunnels you see an END CCS sign. Maybe that's something different than CSS that they have installed.

Davis