Community Corner

New VRE Rail Cars Could Be Ready by 2013

VRE officials said they have the funding to order eight new rail cars for its aging fleet, but that the new cars probably won't be ready to take anybody, anywhere for at least another two years.

Virginia Railway Express (VRE) officials said they have the funding to order eight new rail cars for its aging fleet. The bad news is, the new cars probably won’t be ready to take anybody, anywhere for at least another two years.

 Dale Zehner, CEO of the Virginia Railway Express, told customers in July that the company retained funding and issued a request for proposals for eight new rail cars, complete with toilets.

The proposal also allows the option for an additional 22 cars with toilets, 15 cars without toilets and five cab cars, leading to a grand total of 42 new cars, Zehner said.

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 “Currently, I have the funding in place to definitely order the first eight cars,” Zehner told passengers on July 21.   “I have found that it is easier to find funding for these types of purchases when the contract is already in place.  There is no doubt in my mind that we will once again be able to cobble the money together to buy all 50 rail cars.”

 The “bad” news, Zehner said, is that the equipment they want to purchase has to be built to the VRE’s specifications and they must be compatible with the equipment the company already owns.

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 “You can’t walk onto a show room floor and drive home with the floor model …  this process, unfortunately, takes time,” he said.  

 If everything goes as planned, the new cars will be ready for use in 2013. Until then the VRE legacy gallery cars will continue to be used, even though some passengers have expressed a dislike for them.  

 “I know that for many of you, it would be an understatement to say that you do not like these cars,” Zehner said.

 But there are other passengers that enjoy the legacy cars because they are warm, he added.


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