Lynchburg VA NE Regional (ext. to Roanoke and Bristol)

There is an amendment in the Commonwealth of Virginia's budget this year that, if passed, would allocate $50 million to efforts to extend passenger rail from Roanoke to Christiansburg. This would be operated as a new frequency to Roanoke that would continue to Christiansburg. In addition, It was stated that the commonwealth is very close to an agreement with Norfolk Southern for the proposed service expansion. This is a stark contrast to late 2018, when NS announced that they have pulled out of the study for new Amtrak service west of Roanoke.
https://www.wdbj7.com/2021/01/16/extens ... 8S7jCRJxOk

A Richmond Times Dispatch editorial is encouraging Virginia to think big:

But thinking about getting passenger rail to Bristol isn’t big enough, either. So what should be our long-term goal? Atlanta. Or at least Chattanooga.

And at that point, if you got to Chattanooga, Georgia and Tennessee need to start thinking about joining the two cities via train.

https://heraldcourier.com/opinion/our-v ... f4ab8.html

There’s more good news out of Richmond in the push to bring passenger rail service to Abingdon and Bristol, even though the proposed expansion of Amtrak trains from Roanoke into this area is still at least seven years away.

In the new Virginia state budget approved earlier this month, there’s $83.5 million earmarked to help extend passenger service to the New River Valley, along with a provision that the state transportation department study the costs of extending those trains to Bristol.

There’s still one big hang-up — construction of a new railroad bridge over the Potomac River from Virginia into the District of Columbia. Officials say no passenger service expansion to Southwest Virginia can occur until the bridge is finished. For now, that’s not scheduled to happen until 2028, so don’t pack your bags for a train trip out of Bristol or Abingdon just yet.
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"There’s still one big hang-up — construction of a new railroad bridge over the Potomac River from Virginia into the District of Columbia. Officials say no passenger service expansion to Southwest Virginia can occur until the bridge is finished. "

That doesn't make any sense at all. What new bridge do you need to get to Bristol that you don't need to get to Roanoke?

Does this mean no Christiansburg / Virginia Tech station until the Long Bridge is expanded in 2028? The quote below in the article is cites an announcement in "early 2019," whereas the "game-changer" funding announcement by Virginia was in December 2019. That plan adds three new trains over the bridge by 2026. http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/media/3018 ... 072020.pdf

Compared to adding new trains, just extending the line doesn't impact the bridge, though it would make the train slightly more crowded and tougher to get a ticket. (The busy Charlottesville station impacts ticket availability all around, even with its three lines.)

“All of the passenger rail service we have today — the service that does originate in Roanoke, the service that originates in Hampton Roads, anything that comes from North Carolina — everything funnels over that bridge,” Jennifer Mitchell, director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said in early 2019.

Mitchell said then that the bridge project was a “top priority” for the state because no passenger rail expansion anywhere in Virginia could occur until the bridge capacity was increased.

Also 6.5 more VRE trains over the bridge by 2026. http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/media/3006 ... 182019.pdf

The base page from 2019 which links to above PDF's is http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/rail/trans ... -virginia/

The Long Bridge is Phase II, whereas the 9.5 new roundtrips are "Now" or Phase I.

The 0.5 is a VRE one-way from WAS to Broad Run on the Manassas line. I wasn't counting days of the week.

Here's the latest on VA rail expansion. https://wset.com/news/local/governor-no ... ay-express

I wonder how having extra trains terminate at Alexandria, with people mover links to the Metro , would work , in the meantime ? Probably more for VRE than Amtrak ???

David Benton wrote:I wonder how having extra trains terminate at Alexandria, with people mover links to the Metro , would work , in the meantime ? Probably more for VRE than Amtrak ???

VRE/WMATA/Alexandria recently nixed a direct connection between ALX and King St Station due to costs. There’s a knock out panel in front of the fare gates at the main king st entrance that would be used as a starting point to connect to ALX. I believe the big problem is it involves tunneling under a very active rail corridor.

In case anyone missed it the extension to Christiansburg was included in the Amtrak Connects US plan. Chattanooga will get service to Atlanta as part of a new corridor to Nashville. This middle step clearly puts Bristol in play for future construction.

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Christiansburg should open before most other projects on the map, judging by news reports. We'll see.

"VRE/WMATA/Alexandria recently nixed a direct connection between ALX and King St Station": When I was commuting on VRE until 4 years ago, for a while there was a sign at the entrance to the tunnel to the track 2 platform stating that VRE was building a connection to Metro. It implied that construction was under way. I wish I had taken a picture!