Rex Hammond, president and CEO of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, has never lost sight of his vision for rail passenger service in central and southwest Virginia.
And last week, Hammond, who is also executive director of the TransDominion Express committee, was in Bristol drumming up support for the rail line from Roanoke to Bristol and beyond. The Lynchburg-to-Washington leg of the TDX proposal, as it has come to be called, has been a success well beyond the expectations of anyone associated with it.
Members of the rail passenger committee gathered at the Bristol Train Station last week to generate new enthusiasm for the project. Passenger service from Roanoke to Lynchburg got a boost earlier this year after Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed including it in the latest rail plan. Roanoke Mayor David Bowers said his city is working hard to get ready for the service, which could come in 2016 or 2017.