Raleigh-to-Richmond rail project gains steam

Preliminary construction is underway for the Richmond-to-Raleigh passenger rail project, an estimated 162-mile route along the defunct CSX Transportation S-Line corridor that will speed up travel between the capitals of North Carolina and Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C., and the Northeast U.S.

“We have basically funded work to advance all of the preliminary engineering from downtown Richmond to downtown Raleigh,” says Jason Orthner, rail division director for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

In December 2023, the project was awarded a $1 billion U.S. Department of Transportation grant, coupled with 20% funding matches from NCDOT and Amtrak.

With the first 18 miles of rail between Raleigh and Wake Forest now fully funded, construction has begun on the first grade separation at Durant Road in Raleigh, where an overhead highway bridge is replacing an at-grade railroad crossing so vehicle and train traffic can move at different heights rather than intersecting. The milestone was celebrated this summer at an event attended by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

With a design speed of 110 miles per hour, the new route is expected to cut travel time from Richmond to Raleigh — currently a minimum of 3.5 hours by rail and 2.5 hours by car — down to two hours.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity. The Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area is already one of our top five visitor origin markets,” says Katherine O’Donnell, president and CEO of Richmond Region Tourism. “So, any time there’s an easier or more seamless way for visitors to get here, we feel like that’s an opportunity for growth of tourism and business travel.”

Most visitors from North Carolina currently travel to Richmond by car, says O’Donnell. The new rail line isn’t likely to affect airport travel, according to Troy Bell, director of marketing and air service development for the Capital Region Airport Commission.

“Reliable rail between Richmond/Petersburg and Raleigh seems more likely to pull a few people off interstate highways than anything else,” Bell says.

The $6 billion to $7 billion project could be complete as early as the mid-2030s, Orthner says, but that timeline is heavily dependent on funding, particularly at the federal level.

“Building 162 miles of railroad takes time,” he says. “We hope to see some of these initial projects, including the grade separation of the first segment of track, start to come online in the next two to three years.”