DC Examiner

Virginia Railway Express has chosen a French railway company to operate its commuter trains, giving the foreign-owned company a high-profile launching pad for its first U.S. rail operations while abandoning Amtrak, which has run and maintained the trains since VRE began.

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The board of the commuter train agency voted to award a five-year contract with two optional renewals for up to 15 years total to Keolis Rail Services America, an offshoot of a French company that runs that country’s railways.

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Keolis offered the lowest bid, about $1 million lower than the others, Zimmerman said. It also came in even lower than the existing contract, which costs about $19.6 million, VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said.

But Keolis also was the clear front-runner in other areas, officials said. The contract will allow VRE to set higher standards for employees, Roeber said.

The choice marks a break with Amtrak, after relations have frayed over several years.

This spring VRE pushed Amtrak to conduct more rigorous inspections after a series of failures over 36 hours in March delayed more than 5,000 customers.

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Yet VRE officials say their concerns have been with Amtrak management, not its workers, whom they would like to retain. All will be offered the option of moving over to the new train company, carrying over the same benefits and receiving a signing bonus, Roeber said.

If only we would see MARC and the Maryland MTA pushing Amtrak and CSX to conduct more rigourous inspection and setting higher standards. I doubt it will happen though – MARC has already shown their consistent incompetence in the past.

UPDATE: Michael Dresser blogged about this Monday also. He mentions that CSX wants to get out of passenger business on MARC’s Brunswick and Camden lines. However, MARC is in the 2nd year of a 5 year contract with Amtrak on the Penn Line and has no plans to change providers there.