Gov. Jim Justice has agreed to provide the remaining funding Maryland officials requested to keep the Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) in the Eastern Panhandle at its current service. The governor is also hopeful to expand the service to promote tourism in the region.
After months of uncertainty, Gov. Jim Justice, along with Eastern Panhandle municipalities, have pulled together the remaining $2.3 million to keep the MARC train running in West Virginia at six trains per weekday.
The announcement was made Thursday at a press conference at the Martinsburg Train Station.
The $2.3 million joins $1.1 million the West Virginia Legislature already provided during the 2019 session.
The governor said in a press release that he’s grateful to everyone who worked together to provide the funding needed to “keep this vital connection between our state and Washington D.C. alive.”
Gov. Justice and West Virginia leaders are in ongoing contract negotiations with the Maryland Transit Administration to reach a multi-year agreement.
The governor has also directed Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby to research and pursue increasing tourism-related MARC train ridership in West Virginia.
A meeting is set with Amtrak officials to work toward keeping the New River Train service going in southern West Virginia this fall.
Congressman Evan Jenkins and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin say they’ve arranged the meeting on Tuesday. Media outlets report it will be held at Amtrak’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Also scheduled to attend are representatives of the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Society, which operates the New River Train, and leaders from Hinton and Summers County.
Amtrak decided last month to end charter and special service trains, putting traditions such as the New River Train and Hinton Railroad Days in jeopardy. The New River Train is scheduled for late October from Huntington to Hinton.
Manchin says eliminate the service would take about $5 million from West Virginia’s economy.
Hundreds of West Virginians travel from the Eastern Panhandle to Maryland or Washington D.C. every weekday for work. These commuters catch the Maryland-based MARC train, or Maryland Area Regional Commuter.
But during this year’s West Virginia Legislative session, lawmakers debated the future of the MARC train in the state.
Maryland threatened to discontinue MARC service to West Virginia unless certain provisions were met.
Commuting on the MARC Train
It’s almost 7 o’clock in the morning. The MARC train approaches Harpers Ferry; its last West Virginia stop before making several stops in Maryland. The final destination of the morning is Union Station in Washington, D.C.
The closer we get to D.C., the fuller the train gets. From Martinsburg to Union Station – it’s a two-hour commute.
The passengers from West Virginia say the MARC train is one of the main reasons they decided to live or stay in West Virginia — like 27-year-old Matt Myers.
“When we were looking for places, we found one that was only a mile-in-a-half from the train station,” he said, “so it’s been helpful having the MARC extend out that far. It definitely helped inform my choice to live there.”
The train is comfortable, well-lit, clean and air-conditioned. There are big windows and power outlets to charge a phone or a laptop. There’s a bathroom in the first car, and I’m told there’s one car labeled the “Quiet Car,” where you aren’t supposed to talk.
Some passengers read, some work or chat, and others sleep.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The MARC train’s Brunswick Line parked at the Martinsburg Train Station.
Another Martinsburg resident, 29-year-old Amber Darlington, actually moved from Maryland to Martinsburg for the lower cost of living and access to the MARC train for her job.
“My partner and I really couldn’t afford to live in Germantown for what we wanted,” she said, “so we chose Martinsburg mainly because of the train, and we could actually afford to live there.”
Maryland Demands Funding from West Virginia
The MARC train serves 300 to 400 West Virginia residents just like Matt and Amber every weekday.
For more than 30 years, Maryland paid for the trains into West Virginia, while West Virginia paid for its three local stations — Martinsburg, Duffields and Harpers Ferry.
But after 2010, Maryland requested funding from West Virginia if it wanted to keep the MARC train in the Eastern Panhandle.
In 2013, the Commuter Rail Access Fund was created by the West Virginia Legislature for this purpose…but each budget year, for one reason or another, funding was never added.
So, Maryland began imposing a fare increase on tickets purchased in West Virginia, and over time, fewer and fewer stops were scheduled in-state.
Jefferson County Delegate Riley Moore says in 2018, Maryland insisted that West Virginia lawmakers take action to fill the line item in the budget.
“MARC says, okay, look, you all have never paid us for this, and here’s the bill, and the bill originally starts off from Maryland at $3.8 million,” Moore said.
Maryland told West Virginia lawmakers if they didn’t receive that $3.8 million, MARC service in West Virginia would end as early as July of this year.
During the session, lawmakers didn’t find $3.8 million, but they did secure $1.5 million for MARC services…which Maryland accepted, for now.
“In the intervening year,” Moore explained, “what we are going to do is bring all the stakeholders to the table, which would be the counties, the towns, the state, and the federal level to see where we can find funding from each source to have a permanent solution here for funding for the MARC train and also expand that service.”
Moore says he’s hopeful they can come to an agreement, and notes ticket prices will not increase on West Virginia riders this year.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“Martinsburg, WV” flashes on the destination sign inside the MARC train car. Martinsburg is the first stop for MARC’s Brunswick Line Eastbound and the last stop for MARC’s Brunswick Line Westbound.
Future of MARC in West Virginia
Meanwhile, commuters like Matt Myers and Amber Darlington are still concerned about losing the train.
What would they do without the service?
“[Make] the longer commute to Brunswick? But that [would be] about 45 minutes in the car, an hour-in-a-half on the train, and then 30 minutes on the bike,” Myers said, “so I’m not sure. We [might consider] moving; kind of hard to even think about really.”
“I moved to West Virginia because of the train, because of the MARC train,” Darlington explained, “and if they cut the service, I’d have to drive to work, which is 65 miles one way, both ways, five days a week, and that’s going to take such a toll on my car, and I hate driving.”
The Maryland Department of Transportation’s Public Affairs Director Erin Henson was not available for an interview but said in a statement to West Virginia Public Broadcasting on April 5, 2018, “a formal agreement has not yet been signed,” however, the Department is working with the West Virginia State Rail Authority to come up with a deal.
***Editor’s Note: The headline was tweaked on April 12, 2018 for clarification.
Four West Virginia communities were highlighted in Washington, D.C. this week during a national summit that supports local food initiatives across the country. Local Foods, Local Places is a federal initiative meant to help communities create healthy and economically vibrant neighborhoods.
The event this week at the nation’s capital was attended by 70 local leaders and participants of the initiative. Four West Virginia projects were spotlighted at the summit, making West Virginia the state with the most local food success stories at this year’s event.
The Wild Ramp in Huntington, and the town of Williamson, in Mingo County, were featured for increasing access to healthy foods in their areas, and for boosting the local economy through farmers’ markets
Local food advocates from Rainelle and Wheeling also spoke about their communities’ programs to promote the local food economy – and how their work connects to economic development.
Delegate Jill Upson was chosen to take part in a three-day Legislative Roundtable in Washington, DC, to discuss issues affecting minority communities as a whole.
The three-day legislative roundtable began on Wednesday. Delegate Jill Upson, a Republican from Jefferson County, says the experience has been jam-packed with information, speakers, and other legislators from around the country sharing ideas on how to make their state better.
The roundtable event consisted of 30 leading state and city legislative officials of color who looked to discuss energy workforce, tech entrepreneurship and high speed internet access, policing and sentencing, and challenges of the unbanked.
Upson says one of the things she wants to address after returning home to West Virginia is the criminal justice system and its effect on the workforce.
“It’s an initiative called Ban the Box,” Upson explained, “and what that does is it simply takes the question of, have you ever been convicted of a felon off of the application, so that it gives the applicant an opportunity to get their foot in the door, and then they could explain, well, you know, I was 18, and I did something silly, and so for the last ten, twelve years, I’ve been on the straight and narrow.”
Upson says for the final day, she will visit the White House and speak with senior administration officials.
