Pretty old, but living in Virginia, I've been following this for quite some time. I can understand heritage, but sometimes, change is for the better. I've ridden that two hour ride in the diesel P32s, and I can tell you, that some high speed rail would do Virginia well.
As a matter of fact, it would do the entire South, maybe even country well. The Europeans have systems that put us to shame. We are still running cars from the 1980s. Feel free to share thoughts.
http://www.richmond.com/news/local/ashland/article_fec07673-9c08-5635-80b5-0794aa636472.html