MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — MARC commuter trains will continue to serve West Virginia, after Gov. Jim Justice dipped into his office’s civil contingency fund to provide the final $1.1 million to keep trains running.Justice’s chief of staff, Mike Hall — filling in for the ailing governor — announced the funding Thursday in Martinsburg, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports.
“The governor recognizes without a doubt, and I absolutely concur with him, that this train service is absolutely vital to your economy,” Hall said.
West Virginia had faced the prospect of seeing its three daily round MARC trips cut to one because Maryland had, for the first time, asked West Virginia to contribute to the train’s operating costs. Maryland had asked for $3.4 million, but the state legislature initially authorized just $1.2 million. [See “Hearing calls for preservation of commuter service into West Virginia,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 9, 2019.] Maryland had set a Nov. 30 deadline for the funding, but continued service as negotiations continued, and a consortium of local governments authorized funding. [See “MARC trains continue service to West Virginia as funding talks continue,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 12, 2019.]
The governor’s funding will provide the last of the needed money to continue service for a year, but a long-term funding source must still be determined.
Christophe, actually the Winchester/Stephens City area is in commuting distance to DC. If you leave early enough in the morning. 😉 We often stay in that area when using the Auto-Train. Under 90 minute drive on a good day. Ancestors actually donated land for the first church in the area. Sadly, their headstones were destroyed in the Civil War. Rail passenger service would help get traffic off of both I-85 and I-66. There are people who work in DC that go out to that area for the weekends. So Monday mornings on I-66 are continual road construction and traffic jams starting out as far out as Wellington/Haymarket.
Christophe, thanks for commenting. My interest here is to see MARC and VRE find a way to work together. This article shows that West Virginia is having issues finding a long term solution to cover services that Maryland provides. One solution may be to redirect Martinsburg trains to Winchester, Virginia where VRE could provide partial financing. This route would still serve Harper’s Ferry and could also serve Charlestown, WV, as well as Winchester, VA. I work in Northern Virginia and can tell you that there are a lot of people who commute from Winchester, Martinsburg, Charlestown and Harper’s Ferry at my location. It’s simply more economical to live there and commute that to live near your job.
Amazon moving in to Arlington will drive a further need for better transportation options in the region. MARC and VRE should operate through service that would offer Maryland direct access to Arlington, and Virginia through service to BWI airport and Baltimore. Ideally, MARC, VRE and Metro should all be coordinated together, but with the problems Metro has demonstrated in the past, I think a better alternative needs to be found.
The CSX/Virginia deal addresses the primary issue for the area, the I-95 corridor. It’s refreshing to see government and industry work together to help solve a major transportation problem. I wonder if Virginia will work with NS next to buy their Alexandria – Manassas route?
Robert, I’ve always thought it would be nice to see passenger trains to Winchester. But it is too far to be a commuter market. Which means the economic impact of the train service is of a different order than the panhandle commuter trains to Martinsburg. People buy houses because of commuter trains, to the point that the real estate market is lifted measurably. My grandfather was one (he bought in Sheperdstown WV and used Harpers Ferry or Duffields). I know people who moved to Vermont because intercity train service was there (it meant they had access to clients or grandkids) but the scale isn’t as large as commuter service — but there is additional economic impact intercity trains deliver in bringing out of region tourists and other business economic gains that commuter trains don’t create.
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With the new CSX/Virginia deal, VRE and MARC should explore through service to help connect Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland. Does the deal include the Harper’s Ferry – Winchester CSX route? If so, MARC could turn some of their Martinsburg trains southwest at Harper’s Ferry working with VRE to expand service into the Shenandoah Valley at Winchester, about 20 miles south of Martinsburg on I-81.