Passenger Trains > NS/Va. ink deal for New River Valley ext.

Some good news on an otherwise bleak "winter of our discontent" landscape:

https://roanoke.com/news/local/deal-finalized-to-bring-passenger-rail-to-nrv/article_ce965f00-74ba-11ec-94c5-57506a0e0f28.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

News release here:

https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2022/january/headline-918181-en.html

An historic investment in Southwest Virginia’s rail network, the Western Rail Initiative will add a second state-supported round-trip train between Roanoke and Boston later this year, which will be extended to the New River Valley upon completion of a new station, track and signal improvements. The agreement also allows for a third train to operate in the future between Roanoke and the New River Valley. The expanded intercity rail service, which will create significant economic benefits and provide additional multimodal options for travelers along the Interstate 81 and Route 29 corridor, is expected to add approximately 80,000 new passengers in the first year after service is extended to the New River Valley. Further, the agreement preserves the existing freight rail service provided on the lines – helping to move the goods and materials for the Commonwealth’s economy.

In an agreement with Norfolk Southern, the Commonwealth is acquiring approximately 28 miles of the Norfolk Southern-owned “V line” right-of-way and existing tracks from Christiansburg to the Salem Crossovers and a passenger rail easement between the Salem Crossovers and the Amtrak Roanoke station platform. Norfolk Southern will continue to provide freight service on the line.

In addition, the Commonwealth will invest in infrastructure improvements between Manassas and the Roanoke Yard to improve the reliability of passenger rail service over Norfolk Southern Railway-owned right-of-way.


 

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/22 06:32 by Dcmcrider.

Very  good  news. Bristol is  in Tennessee. Where  would  the  last  stop  be in Virginia??

Here is an interesting video of a VA rail and transit committee meeting in which some of these issues are discussed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zig5i4rqpE
Andy

cutboy1958 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very  good  news. Bristol is  in Tennessee.
> Where  would  the  last  stop  be in
> Virginia??

For the (far) foreseeable future, a station site yet to be determined, somewhere on the former VGN line near Blacksburg.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

Virginia Tech and its many spin offs would seem to be a (the?) Major traffic source in that area.

Posted from Android

cutboy1958 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very  good  news. Bristol is  in Tennessee.
> Where  would  the  last  stop  be in
> Virginia??
The eastbound lane of State Street is in Bristol, Tennessee. The westbound lane is in Bristol, Virginia. The Bristol station which is now a convention center is in Bristol, Virginia.

NS has done some great things for passenger rail in Virginia 

Now how about a daily Cardinal??

The station is in VIRGINIA not Tennessee.  In this shot this train is in front of the Bristol station which is in Virginia. 
This is State Street as you can see by the sign.  This side of the street is Tennessee and the other side is Virginia.
The State Line runs down the Middle of the street.  Not too many cities have the State Line through the middle of town!
Michael REid

---

yooperfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The former Virginian passes somewhat closer to
> Blacksburg than the former N&W, but is there any
> hint yet on how the train would then proceed to
> Bristol (assuming that's where they ultimately
> want to go) from the V line? 

Whatever they do will cost big money, but I doubt it will ever go to Bristol.

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yooperfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The former Virginian passes somewhat closer to
> > Blacksburg than the former N&W, but is there
> any
> > hint yet on how the train would then proceed to
> > Bristol (assuming that's where they ultimately
> > want to go) from the V line? 
>
> Whatever they do will cost big money, but I doubt
> it will ever go to Bristol.

There is no convenient way near Christiansburg/Blacksburg to get from the former Virginian to the former N&W to go to Bristol.  One of the station options for Christiansburg/Blacksburg involves building a (expensive) connection from the Virginian to the remnant of the former Blacksburg branch and having the station near the New River Mall on or near the branch.  The branch connects to the former N&W through a steep, wrong-way connection east of the former N&W station.  Somehow that doesn't seem to be a realistic way to go, but there is probably no other way to do it if you use the former Virginian.  The logical way to get from Roanoke to Bristol is the former N&W all the way from Roanoke. The former N&W line from Christiansburg to Bristol is still mostly the original 1850s route with lots of curves and would not be time competitive with the parallel I-81, so I also doubt if it will ever go to Bristol.

Jim

Thanks  for  all the information. Looks  like  a  freat  station in   VIRGINIA!!

I have been to several of the planning meetings that lead to this great devlopment for virginia. Long term plan is likely to place the station at the NRV mall area, with access to both the Virginian trackage, and the NW trackage via the blacksburg branch line. This line will require substianial improvements before it can be used reguarly. 

As soon as the station is up and running in chirstiansburg, i would expect bus service from bristol to christiansburg and back. 

mpatrickstone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been to several of the planning meetings
> that lead to this great devlopment for virginia.
> Long term plan is likely to place the station at
> the NRV mall area, with access to both the
> Virginian trackage, and the NW trackage via the
> blacksburg branch line. This line will require
> substianial improvements before it can be used
> reguarly. 

That is pretty circuitous, but as we know, going to Bristol won't exactly be high speed.

So putting this into basic terms - sorry a bit confused - is the idea for Virginia to get an Amtrak Regional train extended from Roanoke to Christiansburg/Blacksburg, and then on down to Bristol - parallelling roughly Interstate 81? This is considered the New River Valley? 

There's very little traffic on the Blacksburg branch remnant.  Corning is the only customer, I'm pretty sure.

The New River Valley includes Christiansburg/Blacksburg, Radford, and Pulaski.  Beyond Pulaski the NS line to Bristol climbs out of the NRV toward Wytheville, Marion, Abingdon and Bristol.

There is a very serious elevation difference between the former Virginian and the old Blacksburg Branch.  It will take a lot of money to build a 10 MPH connection to get to the vicinity of the New River Valley Mall for a station. The other problems mentioned in trying to get to Bristol are correct.  In my mind the new station should be built on the former Virginian at Merrimac and a road constructed down to that location.  That would be a lot less expensive than trying to build a rail connection.  But I don't think that's the preferred solution, and doesn't get you Bristol.  

Jim

If the Commonwealth of Virginia is serious about going all the way to Bristol (which I doubt), it needs to start acquiring the ROW for a real solution using  mostly open land. What I propose is to follow the old Virginian to north of the ammunition plant, then bridge the New River and the  old N&W on the other side and build about 5 miles of new railroad to connect with the Bristol line east of Dublin. The ultimate goal should be to get to Knoxville and beyond. Of course you would be dealing with mostly pre-Civil War alignments, so many incremental projects would be necessary to get running speed up to acceptable levels.

Ive hike that trail plent of times i dont think the elevation is as much as you think.