Virginia Improvements to Crescent tracks

Virginia and the Norfolk Southern have completed six capacity improvement projects to the Crescent corridor. Among the projects were:

• 5 miles of double track near the Virginia Inland Port,
  new or lengthened passing tracks between Manassas and Front Royal, and
  increased speed through Riverton Junction.

http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/news/details.aspx?id=512

None of these improvements are on the Amtrak Crescent route. They are on the NS Shenandoah Line and the Manassas Branch.

None of these improvements are on the Amtrak Crescent route.

True, and this thread should probably be moved to the NS board, even if other parts of the corridor are part of the Amtrak Crescent route. But since we are on the subject, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation has these maps along with other information that illustrate both the entire corridor plan and the Front Royal choke point for anyone who may not be familiar. Still to come in Virginia: among other things, straightening out some of the winding right-of-way from Roanoke north to Waynesboro.

Right, this is the Crescent Corridor...parallel to I-81 with southern-end branches to Memphis and New Orleans.

The Front Royal choke point described is where the eastern (I-85/95) route joins the western (I-81 route) about 70 miles west of DC and they both feed into the branch that reaches northward along I-81 to New York.

Highlighted in pink on this WSJ map: