VRE delays spell nightmare for riders, agency

Virginia Railway Express’ chief executive officer wasted no time last week pointing out a major failure on the commuter railroad.

“First of all, I am livid at the events that have occurred over the last two days is a gross understatement,” said Dale Zehner, VRE’s CEO, in an email sent to VRE riders Thursday.

It all began last Tuesday with train 307, which departed Union Station in Washington for Fredericksburg just before 5 p.m.

That train broke down around 5:20 p.m. due to a missing control cable, Zehner said.

Because of the mechanical failure, a later VRE train — number 309 — was dispatched to pull the disabled train to Fredericksburg.

Delays of more than an hour and a half accrued on the 307 train, and of more than an hour on the rescue train — number 309.

And then the next day the bottom seemed to fall out.

Train 327, which departs Union Station for Manassas just after 1 p.m., broke down Wednesday in Crystal City around 1:50 p.m.

Zehner called it a “catastrophic” mechanical locomotive failure, with the agency quickly dispatching crews to fix the problem.

When those crews determined they couldn’t fix the locomotive as it sat on the tracks, the agency called for an Amtrak train to help.

It was sent to the wrong place, Zehner said, leaving riders aboard Train 325 to wait for nearly two and a half hours.

“Along with about 100 of my closest friends waiting for #325… [repair] equipment to arrive,” Prince William County resident David Lane posted on his Twitter blog Wednesday.

Passengers were told they could not get off the disabled train due to safety concerns.

By 4 p.m. Train 325 was moving again, being pushed to Manassas.

VRE cancelled the 6:10 p.m. Manassas line train from Union Station due to the delays, and told riders the last train bound for Manassas would leave as scheduled at 6:50 p.m.

And then even more delays, as Train 337 — the last train of the evening — broke down while heading back to Union Station.

Amtrak stepped in and offered to take as many passengers as they could on a train already near capacity.

That train would get as far as Manassas, but not to Broad Run, which is the last stop on VRE’s Manassas line.

The agency tried to secure busses to take riders the rest of the way, but had no luck.

Many who were able to board the Amtrak train chose to take taxi cabs to the Broad Run station.

In the end Zehner said there wasn’t much that could have been done better, and that most machines, including locomotives, will break down from time to time.

The agency has been working for some time to improve on-time performance and rider communication.

Zehner said this incident comes as a blow to those efforts.

“Some of our long-time riders, who have been through the tough times in the past, have indicated that this is the worst they have seen us in a long time. I agree,” he said in his e-mail.

Zehner also said conductors should have been more forthcoming with information to passengers, who were held aboard the trains. It’s something he said he aims to improve upon.

VRE is asking those who did take a taxi cab to their station to send the agency a copy of the receipt for a full reimbursement.

Riders can also e-mail the receipts to .

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.