Southeast High Speed Rail

A Tier 2 Draft Environmental Impact Study has been released for the Raleigh to Richmond corridor. The proposed new route would reduce the trip length by 35 miles and increase the average speed from 47 mph to 86 mph. 100 grade-separated roadway crossings would be required. The proposal would increase the frequency of trains between Raleigh and Washington from two per day to four per day and reduce the travel time by almost 2 hours. The state of Virginia proposes to reduce the travel time between Richmond and Washington by another 40 minutes. The Draft Environmental Impact Study, prepared by Michael Baker Engineering, is available for download at http://www.sehsr.org/deis/deis.html . Warning, the Executive Summary alone is 64 pages.

Will Virginia and other states with regional trains be capable ante up yearly operational costs?
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/busin ... 02/348970/
Presently, Virginia subsidizes two regional trains (one from Lynchburg and another train from the Richmond starting in July and extending to Norfolk in 2013) at a yearly cost of $41 Million. Amtrak fully funds, but won't by 2013, four regional trains (two from Richmond and two from Newport News). Additionally, Virginia may be asked to contribute funds for subsidizing the Carolina too. Virginia could be asked to find another $80 Million yearly (at a rate of $20 Million per train per year) by 2013.
Virginia at present doesn't have any dedicated funds for supporting trains. If asked to subsidize the existing trains, there's little left to fund any high speed rail projects within the State. Which brings up this question, will the SE High Speed Rail Corridor ever be completed?

electricron wrote:Will Virginia and other states with regional trains be capable ante up yearly operational costs?
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/busin ... 02/348970/
Presently, Virginia subsidizes two regional trains (one from Lynchburg and another train from the Richmond starting in July and extending to Norfolk in 2013) at a yearly cost of $41 Million. Amtrak fully funds, but won't by 2013, four regional trains (two from Richmond and two from Newport News). Additionally, Virginia may be asked to contribute funds for subsidizing the Carolina too. Virginia could be asked to find another $80 Million yearly (at a rate of $20 Million per train per year) by 2013.
Virginia at present doesn't have any dedicated funds for supporting trains. If asked to subsidize the existing trains, there's little left to fund any high speed rail projects within the State. Which brings up this question, will the SE High Speed Rail Corridor ever be completed?

The article is written with a rather alarmist tone. Amtrak doesn't presently break out figures for the Richmond-Washington run, but the Lynchburg train is running at a profit and the two trains to Newport News had a loss last year of a mere 0.5 cents per passenger mile. That's a loss of $1.6 million per train per year to Newport News not $20 million per train per year as quoted in the article. If they push the issue, with a little gain in ridership, Amtrak may have to pay Virginia for running the trains! Of course, I'm sure the Amtrak accountants will find a way to allocate costs to avoid that.

That progress is certainly welcome. According to Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor > Project Description, they should get the final EIS done by next year, and start construction about then.

The route will use the CSX S-line between Richmond and Raleigh, but with restoration of the tracks between Richmond and Norlina NC. This restoration will be single-track, though with several 5-mile passing sidings spaced 8 - 9 miles apart. Thus, it will be 1/3 double-tracked. I got that info from the preliminary track charts at the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor's home page.

Here is a nice article: Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It shows the S-line's route, including the Richmond - Norlina gap. The S-line continues through Columbia SC, Savannah GA, and Jacksonville, FL, though with removed track between Savannah and Jacksonville.


South Carolina politicians are also getting into the act: Charleston, DOT look at passenger rail for eastern S.C. | Charleston Regional Business Journal | Charleston, SC

I'd earlier posted on Georgia Gets Into the HSR Act, about a conference of the Southeast High-Speed Rail Coalition of some southeastern states.

South Carolina and Georgia are rather late in this game, but it's better late than never, I suppose.


I also checked on Washington - Richmond to see how much is triple-tracked. I used maps.google.com, though it may be some months out of date. There were triple-tracked sections in Alexandria and Fredericksburg, but that was about it.

A section between Arkendale (Widewater) and Powell's Creek (Dumfries) is due to be triple-tracked, and it has gotten an ARRA grant, but I haven't been able to find out its progress. That section goes through Quantico, VA. I tried to check on http://drpt.virginia.gov for more details, but it was down.

It's finally back: Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation - http://www.drpt.virginia.gov

Their DC - Richmond page

• Third Track, Virginia Ave. to 10th Street (L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, DC) Status: Complete -- This is in downtown DC; it looks triple-tracked between VA Ave. and MD Ave. and double tracked from there to the Potomac bridge and to Union Station.
• Arkendale Crossover ( Stafford County) Status: Complete
• Third Track, SRO-RO ( Arlington County) Status: In Complete -- Is this a typo for "In Progress" or for "Complete"? Checking on Google Maps reveals that it's done.
• Third Track, Franconia Hill ( AF-Ravensworth-Fairfax County) Status: In Progress -- Near Franconia Rd. Google Maps still shows only double-track. Ravensworth is a little north of Lorton.
• Third Track, FB to XR ( Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania County) Status: In Progress -- Fredericksburg is triple-tracked to as far as Benchmark Rd. / Mine Rd. The line leaves Spotsylvania Cty. a little south of Mills Dr.
• Elmont Crossover ( Hanover County) Status: Complete -- Elmont Rd. is a few miles south of Ashland.

Also, Quantico Creek Bridge, the remaining single-track bridge, now has an additional double-track bridge beside it.

Chapter 4 Potential Improvements to the Rail System mentions the Arkendale - Powell's Creek triple tracking and identifies Ravensworth.

So the currently-planned triple tracking won't be continuous between DC and Richmond, though it could be continuous everywhere except for some expensive-to-build parts like bridges over some of the rivers.

I'm embarrassed. In MARC and VRE is VRE's 11mi of High Speed Rail (Arkendale - Powell's Creek)

Literalman linked to a map showing triple-tracking presence and proposals from DC to Fredericksburg. It shows Arkendale - Powell's Creek (proposed) and Springfield - DC (exiting in the middle; the rest proposed). This leaves gaps south of Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg - Arkendale, and Powell's Creek - Springfield.

Washington, DC to Richmond Third Track Feasibility Study mentions the question of electrification toward the end. One track electrified would cause serious problems for electric-powered passenger service, while all three electrified would cause problems for CSX operations.


Looking southeast of Richmond, I find the Richmond/Hampton Roads Passenger Rail Study for expanded service. Current service goes from Richmond to Newport News on the north side of the James River, on CSX tracks. That study will examine expanding it, and also starting Richmond - Petersburg - Norfolk service on the south side of the James River, on NS tracks.