On Wednesday, Manchin tweeted “I’ve been working nonstop with @Amtrak to preserve #WV’s proud railroading history by keeping the annual New River Train running, and that’s why I’m glad a deal is in place to continue this proud Mountain State tradition. I’m looking forward to announcing more details soon.”
The New River Train ran for 52 years before its sponsor, the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society, announced in February that they were canceling the 2019 trip. The group said new policies from Amtrak made it cost prohibitive to continue running the train.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that a spokesperson for Manchin’s office declined to elaborate on the tweet, adding only that “We’ll be announcing more details next week.” The paper was unable to reach the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society for comment.
I’ve been working nonstop with @Amtrak to preserve #WV‘s proud railroading history by keeping the annual New River Train running, and that’s why I’m glad a deal is in place to continue this proud Mountain State tradition. I’m looking forward to announcing more details soon ????
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) May 22, 2019
Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society would like on-time donations for operating costs and has Amazon Smile listing.
glad to hear this, met a car host who works this train when we were in Ogden, and he was very disappointed they were not going to run a big boost to economy in the area.
No problem with this as long as Amtrak prices it to make money. No need for taxpayers to subsidize this tourist scenic ride.
And therein lies a problem with passenger rail in the US: one senator, from one state, lobbies Amtrak on behalf of one train that runs once per year. Meanwhile, the twin obsessions of passenger train cost-cutting and passenger train “profitability” continue to run rampant.
Glad it will run, of course. I’ll be interested to see how Amtrak spins this one and where the equipment is coming from and how it will be assembled.
As the late senator Everett Dirksen once said, “When I feel the heat, I see the light”.
If the train does come back, would the Collis P. Huntington group be the sponsor, or someone else?