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The Southeast: A Rail Passenger Success Story
While the Northeast, with its population densities, has always had rail passenger service keyed to its regional needs, the same cannot be said of the Southeast. Historically, most trains passing through Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas were bound somewhere else. Famous limiteds such as the East Coast Champion, the Orange Blossom Special and the Silver Meteor were scheduled for convenient arrival and departure times in Northeast cities and Florida vacation destinations, not intermediate points such as Petersburg, Raleigh, Columbia, or Savannah. To access rail service in the Southeast often meant departing or arriving points in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas in the middle of the night. This tradition of watching trains pass through Virginia and the Carolinas continued well into the Amtrak era. Then, on June 15, 1976, when sufficient Amfleet I cars had been delivered to make new daylight services possible, Amtrak initiated the New York- Charleston, SC- Savannah Palmetto and the Boston- Richmond- Newport News Colonial. These services were instantly popular and opened up new and more convenient rail options for travelers to Southeast points. In 1985, Amtrak added the Richmond- New York Virginian on a business-travel-oriented schedule. Before June 1976, Richmond's Staples Mill Station saw six trains a day, all en route to or from Florida points. By 1998, with the introduction of overnight Hampton Roads- Boston service on the Twilight Shoreliner, 14 daily trains passed through or originated in Richmond, only six of which were proceeding to or from Florida. Rail passenger service connecting Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia with the Northeast, specifically scheduled to provide convenient arrival and departure times in these communities, was now a reality. There are very good reasons why Amtrak gradually has increased service to the Southeast. The region is, among other things, experiencing rapid population growth. In the last 40 years, the population of Virginia increased by 76 percent, the population of North Carolina by 71 percent, South Carolina by 62 percent, and Georgia by 100 percent. Residents of these states are increasingly educated, affluent and mobile. The quality of life in the region and the availability of a qualified work force, are attracting major industrial and technology firms to the area, greatly increasing employment opportunities. Business and leisure travel between the Southeast and the Northeast has been growing by leaps and bounds. On May 12, 1990, Amtrak and the State of North Carolina initiated the Carolinian between Charlotte- Raleigh- Richmond- Washington and New York. The Carolinian was an immediate success both financially and with the traveling public, despite its circuitous route and slow travel times. (The Carolinian, for example, requires six hours between Raleigh, NC and Washington, DC while the trip can be made in less than four hours, 45 minutes by automobile.)
The Carolinian was not alone in its popularity and financial success. In 1995, for example, the New York- Savannah Palmetto, the New York- Charlotte Carolinian, the Lorton, VA- Sanford, FL Auto-Train, and the Boston- Hampton Roads, VA Colonial were the most financially successful Amtrak services outside the Northeast Corridor. Service to the Southeast from the NEC not only was proving popular with travelers, but in many cases proving able to recover its operating costs through the farebox.In the last three years, rail ridership has increased 10 percent in Georgia and by 15 percent in South Carolina. From FY 1992 through FY 1998, Amtrak ridership in Virginia, along the proposed Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) corridor, grew from 750,000 passengers to 900,000 passengers, an increase of 20 percent. Virginia has projected that if Washington, DC- Richmond rail travel times of 90 minutes can be achieved, ridership in this I-95 corridor will triple by 2015.In addition, the 1996 Southeast States Market and Demand Study projected that implementing the SEHSR corridor would be immensely popular in the Southeast, growing Washington, DC- Columbia, SC rail patronage by 588 percent, Columbia, SC- Savannah patronage by 406 percent, Raleigh to Atlanta patronage by 628 percent (from 9,400 annual riders to 68,400 riders) and Charlotte to Atlanta patronage by 507 percent. The Federal Government took notice of the growing popularity and viability of rail passenger service in the Southeast region when in October 1992, the US Department of Transportation designated Washington, DC- Richmond- Raleigh- Charlotte, as one of the five federally designated high speed corridors eligible for federal HSR planning funds. This designation was expanded on December 1, 1998, when USDOT Secretary Rodney Slater extended the corridor from Raleigh, through Columbia, SC and Savannah, to Jacksonville, FL and from Charlotte, through Greenville and Spartanburg, to Atlanta and Macon, to form the Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) corridor. The viability and public usefulness of the SEHSR is compelling. Since the original federal designation, an impressive number of independent studies have confirmed the US Department of Transportation's wisdom and foresight in designating this route as a logical southern extension of the NEC (See Bibliography) |
