Thursday, April 12, 2012
One of the three men was taken to a Fairfax hospital after authorities said he jumped into a Clifton ravine to avoid an oncoming commuter train headed for Manassas.
Three men are facing trespassing charges after one of them had to jump into a Clifton ravine just north of Manassas to avoid an oncoming Virginia Railway Express train. The men—ages 19, 20 and 31—are facing misdemeanor trespassing and trespassing on a railroad track charges, according to Robin C. Chapman, spokesman for the Norfolk Southern Corporation. Their names have not been released. The Fairfax County Police Department reports that the men were hiking through the woods in the Hemlock Regional Park in Clifton on the afternoon of April 4 when they came across a railroad bridge. As they crossed the bridge, they encountered the oncoming train. Two of the men made it across, but police say a third jumped to avoid being struck by a train. …
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Join Santa to light the Christmas Tree on the Manassas Museum lawn, enjoy live holiday music or even take a free hayride around a lit up Old Town this Friday!
Friday, November 4, 2011
Trains were the highest on-time record in the service's history.
Virginia Rail Express CEO Dale Zehner announced Friday that the train system has seen record on-time performance and ridership for the month of October. Zehner said in a prepared statement that VRE had "above a 98 percent on-time performance," something never achieved in the system's nearly 20-year history. Perfomance during October for the Manassas line was cited at 98.44 percent; the Fredericksburg line at 97.66 percent. "Putting it in context, VRE operated 600 trains in October with only 11 total delayed trains (a train is delayed if it is more than 5 minutes late). The total accumulated time delayed for the entire month…155 minutes," wrote VRE's Mark Roeber in an email. "That’s almost less than what many motorist face on any given day…
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Manassas Virginia Railway Express line is seeing record ridership numbers.
The Manassas Virginia Railway Express line is seeing record ridership numbers. WTOP is reporting an average of 20,000 passengers riding the Fredericksburg and Manassas rail lines on a daily basis. VRE CEO Dale Zehner told WTOP The numbers are the highest they have ever been and the "30 highest ridership days have all occurred in the last six months." The increase in rail usage by commuters is being attributed to the regions traffic woes and the ability of the trains to get where they are going on time. But the news does not come without some growing pains for the VRE. The high volume of riders has led to train overcrowding, especially during rush hours. Zehner said there are new trains and cars on the way but it could be another two years…
