Virginia advances $3.7B rail expansion program
Virginia finalized agreements Tuesday with CSX, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express as part of the state’s $3.7 billion passenger rail expansion program that seeks to relieve a rail bottleneck and get more commuters onto trains.
The signing of agreements advances a pledge Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam made in December 2019 to significantly expand passenger rail service this decade by building a new rail bridge over the Potomac River, adding new track in the WashingtonRichmond corridor and buying hundreds of miles of passenger right of way from CSX.
Within the next month the state will begin taking over some CSX tracks and will start construction of a fourth track in the Interstate 95 corridor in Alexandria this year, officials said.
“This transformative plan will make travel faster and safer. It will make it easier to move up and down the East Coast, and it will connect urban and rural Virginia,” Northam said during a Tuesday announcement in Alexandria. “This historic initiative will help get people and goods where they need to go more efficiently, reduce congestion and pollution, and create a more inclusive economy.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Virginia and railroad officials to mark the event at Alexandria’s Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express station. He praised the collaboration among federal, state and private-sector officials to carry out the 10-year program.
“This is exactly what our country needs more of and exactly what our communities deserve,” Buttigieg said. “The project we’re celebrating today will help people across the region, and the work we’re doing collectively will help people across the country.”
Buttigieg said the nation is ready to support transit, including passenger rail, as it pulls out of a pandemic-fueled economic downturn. He cited the recently approved stimulus package that gives Amtrak $1.7 billion to restore some service and bring back furloughed workers.
Virginia and the two passenger railroads have made financial and service commitments that would transform the state’s rail infrastructure over the next decade. Amtrak will contribute $944 million toward improvements and has committed to operating in the state for at least 30 years.
The 10-year program will be paid for with local, state and federal money, which includes Amtrak’s financial commitment. Virginia officials said the state has secured some state dedicated rail funds and will seek other funding opportunities, including vying for a piece of President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure package.
The coronavirus pandemic threatened to delay the plan — which observers and railroad officials say will turn Virginia into a model for intercity train service — but it has stayed on schedule, officials said.
“Living through this extraordinary year, everyone stayed at the table, everyone was committed to seeing this through,” Virginia Transportation Secretary Shannon Valentine said.
RAIL NETWORK PLAN
Virginia’s rail program is a key piece of a regional plan that envisions a network of high-frequency, all-day commuter and inter-city train service that spans from Baltimore to Richmond.
Although demand for service is sluggish amid the pandemic, officials say they expect ridership will pick up later this year as more Americans get vaccinated and resume travel.
Amtrak is expected to add a new trip from Washington to Norfolk and another to Roanoke this year. Two more trains would be added — one ending in Richmond and the other in Newport News — by 2026, and three additional to Richmond would be added by the end of the decade. Amtrak now runs five daily Northeast Regional trains to Richmond.
Virginia Railways Express will add one trip on each of its two lines this year.
Virginia Railway Express, which carries commuters from Northern Virginia to downtown Washington as part of a joint project of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, has agreed to contribute $200 million to the project over the next decade.
“These are exciting times for commuter rail in Virginia,” Virginia Railway Express Chief Executive Rich Dalton said Tuesday.