passenger rail Archives - Virginia Business

Raleigh-to-Richmond rail project receives $1B federal grant

A passenger rail route between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond will receive a $1 billion U.S. Department of Transportation grant, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, announced Tuesday.

The approximate 162-mile route will be along the currently out-of-service CSX Transportation “S-Line” as part of a Southeast corridor to connect North Carolina with Virginia, Washington, D.C., and the Northeast corridor. Trains on the route could travel up to 110 miles per hour.

“This $1 billion grant for North Carolina to make progress on the Raleigh-to-Richmond rail line is a big win for economic development in the region,” Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said in a statement.

In June 2022, the transportation department’s Federal Railroad Administration announced an up to $57.9 million grant to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the project as part of $368 million in funding awarded across 46 projects in the U.S. The grant to North Carolina was to support surveys and preliminary engineering for the Raleigh to Richmond (R2R) Corridor Program, which is a joint venture between North Carolina’s transportation department and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority.

NCDOT and Amtrak will provide a 20% funding match to the $1 billion grant. The Federal Railroad Administration will work with NCDOT and VPRA to establish a phased funding agreement.

The eventual rail route will be state-owned. In 2020, Virginia signed an agreement to buy 75 miles of S-Line right-of-way between Ridgeway, North Carolina, and Petersburg from CSX Transportation for $525 million, paid over three installments. NCDOT has the option to purchase the S-Line right-of-way between Raleigh and Ridgeway according to a June 2022 news release from VPRA.

For fiscal 2023 — which ran from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 — Amtrak Virginia served a record 1.26 million passengers. The previous record, set in fiscal 2015, was about 894,000.

Kaine, Warner announce $100M for rail bridge in NoVa

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced $100 million in federal funds Thursday for the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority to build a rail bridge to ease congestion along a busy stretch of railway in Fairfax County.

The money will go toward design and construction of the Franconia-Springfield Bypass, a bridge that will allow Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express trains to cross over two freight rail tracks south of the Franconia-Springfield station. According to a news release, the project will expand service capacity and help thwart delays. CSX, Amtrak and VRE use the tracks, and construction is set to take place between 2024 and 2026.

“Passenger rail is a vital connector for so many Virginians — carrying people to their work, their families and their travel plans,” Warner and Kaine said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to see this funding make rail safer and more efficient for Virginians by addressing a critical chokepoint in a vital location, alleviating congestion for hundreds of Virginians every single day.”

The funding is awarded through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, and made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure law and the FY2022 government spending bill.

According to a May report, VRE saw 6,233 daily riders across its system in April. The Fredericksburg line, which passes through Franconia-Springfield, saw a little less than 4,000 daily riders during that month.

Bedford lays tracks for possible Amtrak stop

Leigh Ann Ellis is all aboard for Amtrak to begin stopping in the town of Bedford.

In the past, Ellis, a journalism teacher at Bedford County’s Staunton River High School, had her students board the train in Lynchburg for field trips to New York or Washington, D.C.

For students who live in Goodview, on the Roanoke side of Bedford County, that meant at least an hour’s trek. Bedford, which is equidistant from Lynchburg and Roanoke, “would be a much more central location,” Ellis says.

A study released in October by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) examining the feasibility of providing an Amtrak stop in Bedford left supporters optimistic. “I feel quite confident we’ll have a station there,” says state Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt.

Mary Zirkle, the town’s economic development coordinator, is happy to see some forward momentum for the proposed train stop. “It’s getting closer than it was before when we were on some kind of strange horizon of never,” she says.

That said, it’s too early in the process to establish a timeline for when Amtrak might begin stopping in Bedford, says Emily Stock, DRPT’s manager of rail planning.

The DRPT study included a ridership analysis that predicted a Bedford Amtrak stop might draw more than 10,000 new riders per year. Zirkle believes a stop would be popular with folks traveling to Washington, D.C., or New York.

DRPT’s preferred site for the proposed stop is on a piece of property on Macon Street owned by Norfolk Southern Corp. It ticks all the right boxes, Stock says, including the fact that it offers an adequate amount of space for a station and parking. Also, Norfolk Southern does not believe a stop there will cause delays to the company’s freight operations.

The project, including a station, is estimated to cost $10.9 million, not including the cost of acquiring the land. Without a station, the cost would be 15% less.

Specifics about which entity will pay for what part of the project, Zirkle writes in an email, “are what needs to be worked out among the state and localities and Norfolk Southern.”

The next step, according to Stock, will be to conduct a National Environmental Policy Act study to make sure the stop will not cause adverse effects to natural or cultural resources.

Va. launches Amtrak service from downtown Richmond to D.C. and New York

Virginia is launching the Amtrak Northeast Regional Route 51, a thrice daily service from downtown Richmond to Washington D.C. and New York, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday from Main Street Station.

“If you’ve ever been stuck on I-95, you know we can’t pave our way out of congestion,” Northam said in a statement. “This new train offers quick, reliable service from the commonwealth’s capital to Washington, D.C., connecting our two cities and making it easier for thousands of Virginians to get to work in the morning. Virginia is leading the nation in expanded access to high-performance rail — and I look forward to many more milestones ahead.”

The service begins at Main Street Station in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood and has stops at multiple destinations in the Northeast corridor and has three daily departures, two in the morning and one in the evening.

“We are pleased to partner with Virginia to bring additional Amtrak service to the Main Street Station,” Ray Lang, Amtrak vice president for state supported services, said in a statement. “As people feel comfortable traveling again, we are honored that our customers trust us on their journey as we are excited to welcome them onboard.”

The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority supports four Northeast Regional routes that originate in Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, service to and from Richmond’s Staples Mill Station was suspended in March 2020,” Virginia Passenger Rail Authority Executive Director DJ Stadtler said in a statement. “Today’s resumption of this service, which includes the extension to Main Street Station, marks the return to pre-pandemic service levels in Virginia.”

Transforming Rail in Virginia is a $3.7 billion program to expand and improve passenger, commuter and freight rail in Virginia. It will connect the Northeast and Southeast corridors in the national rail network. In partnership with CSX Transportation, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express (VRE), Virginia is constructing a new Long Bridge over the Potomac dedicated to passenger and commuter rail. The project acquired 386 miles of rail right-of-way and 223 miles of track and the program has more than $1 billion.

Over the next ten years, these investments will result in nearly hourly Amtrak service between Richmond and Washington and service enhancement for Newport News and Norfolk. The VRE services will increase by 75% along the I-95 corridor, according to a news release, and add weekend services.

$257M Western Rail Initiative to bring NRV train service

Passenger train service will return to the New River Valley for the first time since 1979, Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday, announcing an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway.

The $257.2 million deal is an addition to the $3.7 billion rail expansion package the governor hailed in March as part of the Transforming Rail in Virginia program.

The agreement, called the Western Rail Initiative, extends service to the New River Valley, an area that includes the city of Radford and the counties of Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski.

It also increases intercity passenger rail service between Roanoke and the Northeast Corridor, according to the announcement, complementing Amtrak’s service in the area.

The governor’s office said the new service will add approximately 80,000 passengers in the first year, citing ridership predictions. The Roanoke train currently provides 220,000 passenger trips per year.

The initiative includes $219 million in infrastructure investments, including improvements to Roanoke Yard and the Route 29/Interstate 81 corridor, and $38.2 million for the acquisition of 28.5 miles of track on the Virginian Line between Salem Crossovers to Merrimac. Legal agreements between Norfolk Southern and the state are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

“Bringing passenger rail service back to the New River Valley will fuel tourism, drive economic growth and create new opportunities for the region’s 180,000 residents and 40,000 college students,” Northam said in a statement.

An additional round-trip train from D.C. to Roanoke will be added in 2022, serving Alexandria, Burke, Manassas, Culpeper, Charlottesville, Lynchburg and Roanoke, according to the announcement. Infrastructure improvements are planned to be complete in 2025 to allow for the Northeast Corridor round trips to be extended from Roanoke to Christiansburg. The state also plans to work with the New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority to fund construction of a station building and parking.

Va. finalizes $3.7B rail expansion agreement

Virginia will have more train service in the next decade, as Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday the formalization of a $3.7 billion rail expansion package in Virginia, the tenets of which were announced in late 2019. The state signed agreements with Amtrak, CSX and Virginia Railway Express at a ceremony Tuesday.

According to the governor’s office, the number of Amtrak trains serving Virginia will double over the next 10 years, providing nearly hourly service, and increase VRE commuter service by 60%. An existing east-west freight corridor between Doswell and Clifton Forge will be preserved to provide passenger service, and the project creates the possibility of rail serving the entire state. Some of the funding comes from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan legislation Congress passed in December toward pandemic relief.

Northam, who signed the agreements Tuesday while accompanied by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at the Amtrak/Virginia Railway Express station in Alexandria, called the agreements a historic initiative “that will fundamentally transform our transportation infrastructure, delivering long-term economic benefits for our workers and communities as we rebound from the pandemic and into the future.”

The pandemic relief bill includes $1.7 billion to bring furloughed Amtrak workers back to work, restore service and help states cover lost revenue, Buttigieg said. One of the biggest hurdles to Virginia’s railway challenges has been the sole rail connection between Virginia and Washington, D.C., an East Coast bottleneck owned and operated by CSX. Constructing an adjacent $1.9 billion, two-track, Virginia-owned Long Bridge over the Potomac River will help solve that issue, officials say.

Tuesday’s set of agreements includes a 10-year, $944 million commitment from Amtrak. The company will become the exclusive provider of intercity passenger rail service along Interstate 95 for at least 30 years, according to the announcement.

“Virginia is a model for the nation in recognizing the role passenger rail plays in connecting people and economies,” Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said in a statement. “Expanding our state-supported intercity corridors gives us greater opportunities to meaningfully address the carbon crisis and enhance mobility as our population continues to grow.”

The state says its Transforming Rail in Virginia Initiative is meant to address growing traffic congestion, with Virginia’s population expected to increase from 8.5 million to 10 million during the next decade — a fifth of which is expected in Northern Virginia. The governor also projects that the initiative will grow the state economy by $2 billion annually.

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Northam seeks to include part-time workers in state IRA fund

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has proposed a change to a bill to allow part-time employees to participate in a newly created state-administered retirement fund for workers without 401(k) access, the governor’s office announced Friday.

Northam also has signed legislation expanding an existing broadband pilot program to increase internet access in underserved areas of the state, and another measure codifying restaurants’ right to serve alcohol outside and during permitted events, which became policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor also signed into law a measure creating an authority to support passenger rail expansion west of Roanoke.

Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William, sponsored HB 2174, which directs the Virginia College Savings Plan to create the VirginiaSaves individual retirement account for eligible nongovernmental employees of small businesses who don’t have access to retirement plans. Under the current legislation, the program was available only to people employed at least 30 hours a week — a requirement the governor suggested striking. The House of Delegates will have to take up the recommended change when it reconvenes on April 7.

In response, Nicole Riley, director of the Virginia chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, released a statement: “Small business owners across Virginia are deeply concerned with this move by the governor. Here’s why this bill is bad for small business: It would require our already struggling small business owners to participate in a government-mandated program at a time when they are already burdened with COVID-19 mandates and revenue losses.

“Our members ask legislators to reject the governor’s amendment and support employees’ choice as well as mitigate the administrative burden on small businesses,” Riley added.

Northam signed a measure that creates the New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority, which would support passenger rail expansion west of Roanoke in Planning District 4, legislation sponsored by Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, and Del. Chris Hurst, D-Roanoke. He also signed legislation sponsored by Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William, and Edwards to expand the broadband pilot program authorizing Dominion Energy Inc. and Appalachian Power to make capacity available to internet service providers. The current program is restricted to nongovernmental internet service providers.

Finally, the governor signed into law a current pandemic policy allowing restaurants more leeway to serve alcohol outside, which was included in state policy to help restaurants suffering financially. Identical bills sponsored by Ayala and Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico, allow the board of directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to increase the number of events held by a business per year — currently limited to 16 — if a locality adopts an ordinance seeking expansion. The law also increases state and local license fees for such outdoor events.