FOR THE past year, I've known that I would eventually be writing a Parting Shot. It would be a column all my own -- 800 or so words to do whatever I pleased with.
Advocates of increased consumer rail service expect the Virginia General Assembly to appropriate funds for the demonstration leg of the TransDominion Express, a rail route proposed to span the state. According to Barbara Hartley, vice president of business advocacy for the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, it is likely that the General Assembly will allot the needed funds. "While there is no part of the $23 million rail budget earmarked for the TransDominion Express, we are reasonably certain that the project will push forward," Hartley said. According to Rex Hammond, president and CEO of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, the route would stretch from Bristol, in the southwest corner of the state, to Lynchburg, where it would split into two legs, one culminating in Richmond and the other in Washington, D.C.
