Friday, December 17, 2010;
8:18 PM
Thank to The Post for Jennifer Buske's Dec. 9 article, "Rail board could be victim of state cuts," which revealed a recommendation by the Virginia governor's Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring to eliminate the Rail Advisory Board (RAB) because it is seen as duplicative of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
The state should retain the RAB because it costs only $10,000 per year and is the only entity that gets all the rail folks together (Amtrak, state rail officials, CSX and Norfolk Southern).
Over the past six years, the RAB has succeeded in improving the coordination of freight and passenger service and on-time performance. The RAB orchestrates a delicate ballet of billions of dollars of infrastructure to produce a smooth interface of services.
Compare Virginia's success with that of states to our west (West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois) that do not have effective rail advisory boards. The long-distance Cardinal train, the second-worst long-distance train in the nation, runs through those states and is routinely two to seven hours late. Does the governor want Virginia to head down that track?
Dan Peacock, Manassas
The writer is a member of the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons.
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