In explaining the June 10 delays, VRE stated: "The weather event dumped so much rain it flooded one of the tunnels just north of our service area." Is there more than one tunnel just north of the VRE service area? Which tunnel are they talking about? The CSX freight tunnel?
This is the whole message:
This is the whole message:
First and foremost, we would like to apologize to all the riders for the extensive delays and regret any inconvenience experienced. Situations like this are dynamic and we sent many messages about the constantly changing information in an effort for you to make the best decision about your commute.
That said, we would like to take this chance to explain what happened. As you may know, with the severe thunderstorms that quickly moved through the area, CSX imposed flash flood restrictions for the safety of all the trains and people on the railroad. The weather event dumped so much rain it flooded one of the tunnels just north of our service area. Normally during the early afternoon, because so few VRE trains are operating, freight trains move through our service area with ease. This was not the case due to the flooded tunnel and many delayed freight trains started stacking up behind one another in both directions.
By the time Fredericksburg #303 (Departs Union Station 3:35pm) started its trip the tunnel was back open but the backlog of trains effectively caused single tracking (trains can only move in one direction at a time) from DC to Alexandria. #303 and Manassas #327 (Departs Union Station at 3:45pm) made it south of Alexandria with 10 minute delays. Northbound Manassas #336 (also the same equipment that operates Manassas #329 which departs Union Station at 4:25pm) was held north of Alexandria while #303 and #327 and other freight trains moved south. Because those trains made it south relatively unscathed, we initially put a twenty minute delay on #329. Unfortunately our estimate was way off. Single tracking through such a large area with many trains going north and south put delays as much as an hour and half for the earlier trains like #329 with a ripple effect on the later trains.
While moving our trains south and operating so late, we made the decision for Fredericksburg #305 (Departs Union Station at 4:10pm) and Manassas #329 (Departs Union Station at 4:25pm) to bypass Crystal City for crowd control. We understand that Crystal City riders just like everyone else want to just get on the train and go home, but we cannot possibly fit three trainloads of people onto one train and have to adjust for that by skipping a station. While our mission is to get you to your destination, our first priority is your safety.
Once some normalcy returned and trains were moving south, we encountered another issue on Fredericksburg #309 (Departs Union Station at 5:15pm) at Brooke. There were radio communication issues between the train and the foreman in charge of the work going on in the area. Anytime trains travel through a work area with personnel on the tracks, the foreman must give permission for the train to proceed to protect the maintenance crew. We had difficulty getting this done and caused the last two Fredericksburg trains behind #309 to also incur more delay.
We know tonight was rough for many passengers and will work with our railroad partners to determine what we did well and what we can do better next time Mother Nature severely disrupts our service. We also welcome any feedback from you, the rider, and hope we provided clarity to a difficult situation.
As always, thanks for riding VRE.
