Decline in ridership costs commuter rail

The Virginia Railway Express, after years of strong growth, has suffered about a 2 percent drop in daily ridership that cost the commuter railway more than $1 million in operating revenue.

VRE total ridership jumped an average 13 percent each year from 2000 to 2005. But in the fiscal year that ended June 30, about 178 fewer passengers used VRE per day than the previous year. Its counterpart, the Maryland Area Rail Commuter (MARC), posted a jump of 107,000 more riders from July 2005 through May, MARC documents show.

With more than $1 million lost in revenue, a fare increase next year is “always an option,” said Dale Zehner, VRE’s chief executive officer. As a quasi-government agency, VRE must receive 50 percent of its operating revenue from passenger fares, said VRE spokesman Mark Roeber. The rest comes from local, state and federal subsidies.

VRE officials attribute the loss of riders to a year’s worth of delays caused by track maintenance and heat restrictions, as well as parking troubles.

“It’s awful,” Mr. Zehner said. “I’m amazed that it’s not worse. For the delays we’ve had, I would have thought we would have lost more. I guess it says a lot about our riders. One, that they’re loyal, or two, they don’t have much more options than us.”

The problems started last summer when VRE officials placed a record number of heat restrictions on the trains for about one-third of the summer. This is partly due to CSX placing heat restrictions when temperatures hit the mid- to high 80s, instead of the 90s, as part of a company policy, Mr. Roeber said.

Railroad tracks can bend, or “kink,” when steel absorbs too much heat. When railroad companies impose heat restrictions, train operators are required to slow trains by 10 mph so they can spot heat kinks before running over them, he said.

CSX, which owns VRE’s Fredericksburg line, also started a one-year plan to replace about 33 percent of the line’s railroad ties. Norfolk Southern, which owns VRE’s Manassas line, replaced railroad ties on about 20 percent of its tracks, Mr. Zehner said.

During flooding last month, VRE officials had to shut down both lines for one day and operate VRE on a limited schedule a few more. Now, hot temperatures have meant more heat-restriction delays.

Each delay has caused passengers to be about 10 to 20 minutes late, Mr. Roeber said.

Passengers also complain about limited parking at stations, VRE officials say. The railway recently added 285 parking spots at its Broad Run station, but the parking lot is full before the last train leaves at 7:50 a.m., he said.

“They almost become beleaguered and say ‘oh, no what’s next,’” he said, explaining why ridership has dropped despite high gasoline prices that typically drive motorists onto public transit systems.

Fernando Carral, a probation officer who travels on the VRE every weekday from Fredericksburg to Union Station, said the VRE is unreliable but riders don’t have other alternatives.

“First, it was CSX with the work. Then summertime, we get heat restrictions,” he said. “The thing with riders on VRE — they don’t have many options. So [VRE] sort of has us by the chin and hairs.”

Tomeeka Fair, 32, of Fredericksburg said she stopped riding the VRE in January because of delays and the “trains are just very uncomfortable.”

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