May 15, 2007: From Deborah Thomas
Virginians for High-Speed Rail
Nancy Finch
Dear Ms. Finch:
I met your son, Allen, this morning on the Amtrak Regional train heading toward Washington and then NYC. I am returning from a lovely weekend celebrating Jamestown’s 400th Anniversary, and had a very enjoyable train ride from NYC last Thursday. However, I was very disappointed to learn that the many annoying delays we encountered on Thursday through Virginia were due to freight trains going ahead of us. When I asked the conductor, “Shouldn’t people go before freight?”, he answered, “No, because they (the freight companies) own the rail tracks!” Needless to say, I was appalled to hear this. In a time when we are trying to find more efficient ways to preserve the environment and our resources, and we would like to encourage people to find more fuel-efficient ways to travel, should the “freight before people” policy not be rethought, and eventually changed?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Deborah Thomas