Richmond Commuter Rail

In 2003 Parsons Brinckerhoff did a study on rail transit for Richmond.

It recommended a mix of commuter rail and light rail such as a light rail line to the airport.

(Linking is hard when I’m on my phone I hope to come back and edit the link to the 2003 study into this if someone else could do it first that would be great)

I am wondering if that study should be updated now that Virginia owns the Buckingham branch north of town and one south of town (is it the S Line to Petersburg?)

Could Virginia Connect them via Main St Station? (Are there any gaps?)

I picture Ettrick as the southern terminus, is there a natural one on the North?

https://planrva.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... 232003.pdf

Yes, given it's been 8 years and ownership has changed.

Thanks! (and, hard as it is to grok, edit that to "18 years" )

And specifically, the segments are:

Hanover Commuter Rail
Length: 18 miles from Main Street Station to proposed terminal station site near Hanover
Current Use: Owned by CSX[[EDIT:Under agreement to Virginia]; currently in use for freight service

Preliminary Station Locations
The following preliminary station locations were identified for the Richmond to Hanover
commuter rail corridor. Station spacing averaged 2.25 miles along the corridor.
Mile - Station - Jurisdiction
0.0 - Main Street Station - City of Richmond
2.2 - Magnolia Street near Rady Street - City of Richmond
3.9 - Laburnum Avenue near State Fairgrounds - Henrico County
6.4 - Industrial Road near Meadowbridge Road (near Ellerson Industrial Park) - Hanover County
9.0 - Chamberlayne Road near Atlee Station Industrial Park - Hanover County
12.4 - New Ashcake Road near Marboro Road & Station Place - Hanover County
14.8 - Peaks Road near Colefield Drive - Hanover County
18.0 - Depot Road near Bumpy Hollow Lane - Hanover County

Corridor Demographics:
2000
Population 26,800
Households 9,000
Median Household Income (1999$) $35,100
Total Employment (jobs) 12

and

Petersburg Commuter Rail
Length: 25.0 miles from Main Street Station to proposed station site at Halifax Road near Petersburg
Current Use:
• Owned by CSX [under agreement to Virginia as part of S-Line, right?]; currently in use for freight service. Also Amtrak uses a portion of this
route south of a junction near Walmsley Boulevard and the Richmond City Limits
• Future High Speed Rail improvements from Washington to Richmond will bring further enhancements to this right-of-way
• Future South Eastern High Speed Rail (SEHSR) trains would operate on this corridor Preliminary Station Locations
The following preliminary station locations were identified for the Richmond to Petersburg
commuter rail corridor. Station spacing averaged 1.8 miles along the corridor.

Mile - Station - Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
0.0 - Main Street Station - Richmond
1.3 - 4th Street near Gordon Ave - Richmond
3.1 - Commerce Road near Bellemeade Road - Richmond
4.5 - Bells Road near Meridian Ave / Phillip Morris Facilities - Richmond
5.3 - Walmsley Boulevard, near Trenton Avenue and Jefferson Davis Hwy - Richmond
6.5 - Chippenham Parkway, near Jefferson Davis Highway & I95 / 895 - Chesterfield County
8.7 - Jefferson Davis Hwy near Bellwood Drive and US Defense General Supply Center - Chesterfield County
11.3 Centralia Road near Chester Road Chesterfield County
13.1 - Hundred Road near Chester Road Chesterfield County
17.4 - Woods Edge Road near Jefferson Davis Highway and Exit 58 of Interstate 95 - Chesterfield County
20.2 - Taswell Avenue near Boulevard (Colonial Square Shopping Center) - Colonial Heights
22.4 - Ettrick (Amtrak station) near Laurel Road Chesterfield County
23.8 - Washington Street near McKinney Street in Petersburg - Petersburg
25.0 - Halifax Road near Vaughn Road - Petersburg

Corridor Demographics:
2000
Population 36,200
Households 14,400
Median Household Income ($1999) $31,200
Total Employment (jobs) Outside CBD 32,100

Oh, and the state's half of

Length:
18 miles from Main Street Station to proposed station site in Ashland
Current Use:
• Owned by CSX; currently in use for freight service and Amtrak service between
Richmond and Washington, D.C..
• Future High Speed Rail improvements from Washington to Richmond will bring further
enhancements to this right-of-way
• Future Southeastern High Speed Rail (SEHSR) trains would operate on this corridor
Preliminary Station Locations
The following preliminary station locations were identified for the Richmond to Ashland
commuter rail corridor. Station spacing averaged 1.8 miles along the corridor.

Miles - Station -Jurisdiction
0.0 - Main Street Station - Richmond
2.1 - Chamberlayne Avenue near Belvidere Street - Richmond
3.6 - Leigh Street near Hermitage Road - Richmond
7.5 - Staples Mill Road (Amtrak station) - Henrico County
8.6 - Oakview Avenue near Parham Road - Henrico County
9.4 - Hungary Road near Oakview Avenue - Henrico County
11.0 - Mountain Road near Old Washington Highway - Henrico County
12.8 - Greenwood Road near Mill Road - Henrico County
14.4 - Elmont Road near Cobbs Road - Henrico County
17.9 - Ashland (Amtrak Station) - Ashland

CORRIDOR DEMOGRAPHICS:
2000
Population 37,300
Households 14,300
Median Household Income (1999$) $30,300
Total Employment (jobs) Outside Richmond CBD 66,334

I'm not so sure a new feasibility study is needed, seems to me it is time for formal Tier 1 EIS studies for the corridors they plan to build first.
Do not redo a favorable past study, it time to move the process to the next step. I'm assuming the reason why Virginia bought the corridors was at least partially a result of the past studies - for both commuter and inter-city trains.

Only 2% not likely?. Let us look at Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. I exclude mainline China for obvious reasons. Where there is service at the above there certainly is more than 2% who want to not drive or take a bus. The desire of many young persons to not even get a driver' license will be the new persons wanting to take all modes of public. Also the quick rising costs of buying and operating autos is going to eliminate many lower wage earners from buying a car even used. Notice I did not say low but said lower.

Despite many to promote bus travel the long distance bus travel is decaling king very even before C-19 .fast. My college days I had to travel by bus when LD train service ended but despised it. Bus service ended here many years ago pre Amtrak.

End point definitions of long distance and corridor IMO is discriminatory. If my mother want to go from my smaller town to say Spottsville Kansas she should be able to go corridor to LD to another corridor. But that now that means 3 separate NEW trains. If the middle portion was an airline or bus means the additional use of 2 taxis or lyft . That would mean 2 connections at different locations for the airports or bus terminals. She could use a LD between the 2 corridor at a common train station without the extra expense of taxis.

So there is a real need for more LD trains and corridor trains. In a few locations substitute commuter for corridor for the example of travel .

How about an extension/new route from Fredericksburg to Richmond? Preferably at Main Street or Broad Street (with modifications to repurpose the current science museum to hold commuter rail of course).

west point wrote: ↑Mon May 24, 2021 10:38 am Only 2% not likely?. Let us look at Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. ...
So there is a real need for more LD trains and corridor trains. In a few locations substitute commuter for corridor for the example of travel .

I'm sorry I don't have mod powers or I'd move this to the Amtrak LD thread.

I doubt there's a transit district that could easily span/sponsor Fred-Ric service

Meanwhile, the "map with the routes" picture is on page 31 in the report and this link should take you directly:
https://planrva.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... df#page=31

I've been promoting Routes 1 (Ashland), Route 2 (Buckingham Branch), and Route 4 (which I believe is the bit of Richmond to Raleigh that the state was also buying?)

Honestly, They should just do it right, with local Regional rail Sbhan like service that ties into the bus route (and integrates with the planned BRT routes), runs every 15 minutes peak travel times, with single crew person DMU.
EMU would be better, but the lines that are still owned by NS/CSX wouldn't allow it.
And yes, converting part of the transportation museum back into a working station would be a good idea.

Looking over the study, it forecast quite low ridership numbers. I doubt that has changed much; indeed changes in work have probably made that significantly worse, especially considering that as a capital a greater percentage of ridership will be professional (state workers) who can presumably work from home.

What wasn't mentioned in the study, but I believe could make sense is to schedule some "intercity" runs with timings to attract commuter riders, provide commuter multi-ride tickets (as Amtrak does on a multitude of corridors around the country), perhaps add a few infill stations and service extensions (for example send some trains that originate/terminate in Richmond a little further to Midlothian on the Southern line to the west or down to Petersburg.

Christopher

Richmond has two major expenses coming up if Connect Us progresses: upgrade the very slow track between the Acca yard and RVM to higher-speed; and a new bridge over the James River.

I'm a fan of re-opening Broad Street station too, as a replacement for both RVR and RVM! With enough money... still won't happen.

Also, the "Buckingham Branch" (really CSX) route Richmond - Doswell - Charlottesville that the commonwealth purchased will cost a boat load to open for pax service, sometime after the time frame of Connect US. Meanwhile the median of I-64 is just sitting right there. Traffic has increased more quickly on that part I-64 than on the historically busy stretch between Richmond and Newport News.

kitchin wrote: ↑Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:20 am Richmond has two major expenses coming up if Connect Us progresses: upgrade the very slow track between the Acca yard and RVM to higher-speed; and a new bridge over the James River.

I'm a fan of re-opening Broad Street station too, as a replacement for both RVR and RVM! With enough money... still won't happen.

Also, the "Buckingham Branch" (really CSX) route Richmond - Doswell - Charlottesville that the commonwealth purchased will cost a boat load to open for pax service, sometime after the time frame of Connect US. Meanwhile the median of I-64 is just sitting right there. Traffic has increased more quickly on that part I-64 than on the historically busy stretch between Richmond and Newport News.

What would cost more, bringing the BB up to at least 60 MPH MAS, or 60 miles of new 79mph row in the median/ utility line row?
I'm not sure how to route it to staples mill, I'd say Connect at south end of acca yard, and connect to main street station.
Have at least a station at short pump, and circulator bus for the area.
optimum would be the pulse BRT having dedicated lanes to connect.
There really wouldn't be any other stations along the way, unless the state worked to make developments along it, other that Reynolds crossing in Richmond, and zions crossing outside.
Bright line proved that its possible to build that much new passenger rail in a year, so it can be done.
Then keep the BB as a freight only line, and the 64 as passenger.

I previously said, with the station spacing, the rail routes should be more of regional rail with a frequency which complements the buses , functioning more like express buses, than morning / evening commuter rail.
Now, the question is, is the need for fixed guideway high capacity vehicles there?

Not to mention Richmond - Doswell - Charlottesville is much longer in miles than I-64. CVS is already well-connected to the NEC, so a route through Doswell is redundant from a western Virginia point of view. If I'm not mistaken, the purpose of the Thruway buses at CVS is to connect in Richmond for the Florida/Savannah/Carolina trains, and in limited cases for Richmond itself (the Cardinal from Staunton, for example). What's missing is western Virginia to Hampton Roads (again, with the exception of thrice-weekly Staunton via Thruway and two trains).