By The Editorial Page Staff, The Free Lance-Star; March 23, 2019
IT’S NOT just local roads that are operating far beyond their planned capacity. Railroad tracks that pass through Fredericksburg are, too. And just like highways, construction activity or accidents on already congested rails can clog up the system for miles.
Virginia taxpayers have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to improve rail lines privately owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern so that passenger and commuter trains can share the tracks. State-supported passenger routes that currently run through Fredericksburg on CSX tracks include the Virginia Railway Express, which also receives local subsidies, and Amtrak’s intercity trains between Newport News and Washington. On March 4, Amtrak also began new daily service from Norfolk to Washington on Norfolk Southern-owned tracks.