VHSR email, 12/29/17:
Thank you for helping to make 2017 a successful year for passenger rail in Virginia!
• Our supporters contacted their members of Congress over 3,000 times to oppose the federal cuts to Amtrak’s national trains which would’ve reduced our passenger rail service by 44 percent.
• Hundreds of our supporters came out to our rallies in support of the Commonwealth’s passenger rail service this summer across the state.
• Our members submitted over 1,000 public comments in support of advancing the Washington to Richmond corridor high speed rail study.
• Dozens of our supporters made the trek from across the state to participate in our 2017 Day at the General Assembly.
And, your support is making a difference!
• Ridership on our passenger trains is up 1.9 percent over last year.
• Virginia had the top three best financially performing routes in Amtrak’s entire system in 2017.
• Service was restored to Roanoke for the first time since the 1970s.
• In 2017, our passenger trains removed 253.2 million passenger miles from our roads, reduced fuel consumption by 11.7 million gallons, and eliminated the release of 229.6 million pounds of carbon pollution. Additionally, our passenger trains generated $1.1 billion in economic benefits which created or sustained over 11,000 jobs.
Thank you again for making 2017 a great year. I hope that you’ll consider making an end of the year contribution to help us make 2018 the year of the train! Here's a link to our 2017 Recap.
Regards,Danny Plaugher
Executive Director
P.S. Be on the lookout for our next report in the coming weeks. We’re going to outline our vision for increasing passenger rail service across the Commonwealth and east coast over the coming years.Virginians for High Speed Rail
5101 Monument Ave.
Richmond, Virginia 23230