During the years between 1941 and 1946, when new automobiles were virtually unobtainable in this country, and gasoline and rubber were strictly rationed, and with the population of the nation being on the move to an unprecedented extent, the railroads of the United States transported passengers almost to their full capacity. With the end of World War II, however, there began a decline in passenger travel on railroads, which has continued and become more acute during the intervening years.

At its 1960 Session, the General Assembly, being cognizant of the importance of the railroads to the well-being and convenience of the public and to the economy of the Commonwealth, and being concerned about both immediate and long range effects of the decline of railway passenger travel, adopted Senate Joint Resolution No. 9, which directed the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council to make a study of the subject.

The Council selected Tom N. Frost, of Warrenton, member of the House of Delegates and member of the Council, as Chairman of a Committee to make the initial study and report to it. Chosen to serve with Mr. Frost on the Committee were the following: Hiram T. Askew, General Passenger Traffic Manager, The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, Richmond; J. S. Brittingham, State Representative, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Suffolk; John A. K. Donovan, member of the Senate of Virginia, Falls Church; J. R. Getty, General Passenger Traffic Manager, Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company, Richmond; C. E. Lex, Jr., Tax Commissioner, Norfolk and Western Railway Company, Roanoke; C. E. Mervine, Jr., Assistant to the President, Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company; Richmond; Robert F. Nelson, Managing Director, Virginia Travel Council, Richmond; Archer A. Page, Special Representative, The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, Richmond; Julian L. Palmore, Local Chairman, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Alexandria; and L. L. Waters, General Superintendent of Transportation, Southern Railway System, Washington, D.C.

The Committee organized by electing Senator Donovan Vice-Chairman. John B. Boatwright, Jr. and Wildman S. Kincheloe, Jr. served as Secretary and Recording Secretary, respectively, to the Committee.

The Committee met a number of times and held a public hearing in Richmond which was well attended and at which much valuable information was presented. It conferred with various individuals, including the members of the State Corporation Commission, and assembled information from many sources relating to the subject of its study. Members of the Committee conferred with representatives of the President's Task Force on Railway Passenger Traffic, known as the Transportation Policy Group; thereafter members of that Group met with the Committee in Richmond. After consideration of the material before it, the Committee made its report to the Council. The Council has reviewed the report of the Committee, and now submits its report, containing its findings and recommendations as set forth below.