CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill that would authorize the state Tourism Commissioner to work with other states and Amtrak to promote daily service of the Cardinal passenger train passed the House of Delegates Wednesday.
The bill (HB 2856) was approved on a 95-5 vote.
The Cardinal currently provides rail service three days a week. It needs to be more, according to Delegate Barbara Fleischauer (D-Monongalia).
“You can’t plan travel if it’s only Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Even if we want to ride on it it’s almost impossible,” Fleischauer said.
Under the bill, the Tourism Commissioner would join in agreement with other states that are serviced by the Cardinal and the company that runs Amtrak in an attempt to increase the service.
Delegate Ed Evans said southern West Virginia sites like the Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve would benefit from daily service.
“There will be numerous (Boy Scout) councils that are anticipating being able to ride the Amtrak into the Prince area where they would then be bused a relatively short distance into the National Scout Jamboree facility,” Evans said.
The bill also sets up a special revenue account–a provision that gave Delegate Mike Folk (R-Berkeley) heartburn.
“We’re sitting here over two-thirds the way through the session and we’re taking up a bill to create a special revenue account to help the federal government run a train service,” Folk said.
Delegate John O’Neal (R-Raleigh), the bill’s sponsor, told delegates there would no money put into the special revenue account.
“It’s just in case in the future if the Tourism Commissioner decides to allocate funds from other sources, sometime in the future, to try and promote the Cardinal as a daily route, that’s what that is for,” O’Neal said.
Amtrak has noted the discussions and is watching with interest, said Kimberly Woods, an Amtrak spokeswoman told MetroNews last November. She noted that West Virginia has played a key role with the Cardinal for many years and seems ready to continue playing that role.
“Shortly after the Cardinal Conference (in Cincinnati), the (West Virginia) Governor’s Conference on Tourism unanimously passed a motion in favor of daily Cardinal service,” Woods wrote in her email. “The current tri-weekly Cardinal service was brought back from the dead in 1981 by West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, so it seems appropriate that West Virginia is taking a leading role in working with Amtrak and the host railroads, CSX, to improve the service.
Huntington, Charleston, Montgomery, Hinton and White Sulphur Springs are among the Amtrak stops in West Virginia,
The bill now heads to the state Senate.