To citizens
The Virginia Association of Railway Patrons, a nonprofit volunteer group advocating better train service in Virginia and West Virginia, wants Congress to direct Amtrak to run the Cardinal train daily and wants Congress to make sure that Amtrak has the operating funds, locomotives, and passenger cars to do so.
The association asks your help in seeking congressional action. During the month of April 2010, VARP sent press releases to [name of news media] and letters to [insert Senators’ and Representative’s names] and asking local governments along the Cardinal route to pass resolutions seeking congressional action for a daily Cardinal. 
Please write your own letter to the news media and your elected representatives (their names and addresses are listed below). We suggest the following points to make in your letter:
	Congress should direct Amtrak to run its Washington-Chicago Cardinal train daily and make sure that Amtrak has the operating funds, locomotives, and passenger cars to do so.
	The train serves 11 states and Washington, DC. It provides interstate transportation and therefore is a federal responsibility. 
	The Cardinal runs only three times a week in each direction, and it is the only passenger train serving Charleston, WV; Cincinnati, OH; and many other points. 
	The Cardinal provides a transportation alternative to towns that have little else. 
	The train has been reasonably well patronized, but it provides substandard service such that three major cities do not even have a passenger train every day. This is an uneconomical use of station facilities.
	Daily, reliable operation would not only improve the transportation choices for people on the Cardinal route, it would assist their economies by making many points in these states more accessible to people living in other places on the Cardinal route and on connecting lines. 
	The segment of the Cardinal route from Cincinnati to Chicago is one of the federally designated high-speed corridors. Eventually we expect to see fast service several times a day between these cities, but even then daily, reliable service east of Cincinnati is important for the future high-speed service to be of benefit to Virginia and West Virginia, and a daily schedule is a realistic minimum for the current Cardinal service.
Addresses:
Rep.
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
[website, email address, and fax and phone numbers]
Sen.
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
[website, email address, and fax and phone numbers]
Sen.
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
[website, email address, and fax and phone numbers]
[newspaper name, address, and email address]
[municipality name and contact information for an appropriate elected official]