The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority has reached a new deal with Norfolk Southern to extend its state-supported Amtrak service to the New River Valley by 2028, while avoiding a costly tunnel upgrade and making it easier to eventually bring service to Bristol.

Under the new agreement, which the VPRA’s board of directors approved by a unanimous vote at its meeting in Richmond Tuesday, the state will also purchase Norfolk Southern’s Manassas Line and gain access to the company’s main line, also dubbed the N-Line — a move that is expected to increase passenger rail options for thousands of Virginians. 

Gov. Glenn Youngkin commended the board for voting to advance “a better, faster, and cheaper solution to bring passenger rail back to a historic location in the New River Valley” while also providing opportunities to bolster service in Northern Virginia.

“We are excited to deliver these benefits as we continue to accelerate results not only in these two regions, but across the entire commonwealth,” Youngkin said. 

According to VPRA, the agreement with Norfolk Southern would support the expansion of two Amtrak round trips to Christiansburg and provide for a third, operating between Roanoke and Christiansburg, at a lower cost than originally planned. 

In addition, the purchase of the Manassas Line allows for an increase of the Virginia Railway Express’ Manassas Line service in the future with additional frequencies including evening and weekend options. The line originates at Union Station in Washington, D.C., and goes to Broad Run in Prince William County.

VPRA first announced in June that it had reached out to Norfolk Southern asking to re-open negotiations after receiving public input which supported service to Christiansburg along the N-Line and seeking a more cost-effective and timelier alternative for that service. Over the past three months, the two entities have worked together to develop plans which will allow passenger rail service to return to Christiansburg via Norfolk Southern’s Cambria Yard, which already served the community from 1904 to 1979. 

In the spring of 2021, then-Gov. Ralph Northam first announced during a visit in Christiansburg that Virginia had reached an agreement with Norfolk Southern to bring passenger rail to the New River Valley and increase the intercity service from Roanoke to the Northeast corridor. The Northam administration and Norfolk Southern reached a definitive agreement in January of 2022.

This original proposal included the construction of a temporary platform on Cinnabar Road in 2028 with an extension through the Merrimac Tunnel to a permanent station near the New River Valley Mall in 2030. But in early 2024, the VPRA released a report stating that upgrading the pre-World War I-era tunnel to modern passenger rail standards would be so expensive that an extension of the line to Bristol would be impossible. 

The updated agreement approved Tuesday cuts the estimated total cost of the original plan by more than half — from $951 million to $444 million, which is already funded after the Commonwealth Transportation Board last month approved the VPRA’s amended capital budget to include an increase from $433 million to $487 million for the plan to expand passenger rail service to Christiansburg. The money stems from existing funds in VPRA’s nearly $6 billion capital budget.

The VPRA said at the time that these capital funds will help cover the purchase of the Manassas Line and infrastructure improvements in Roanoke to accommodate more trains and rights to run passenger service on Norfolk Southern’s N-Line to Christiansburg. The funds will also cover infrastructure costs to build the platform and siding track at the Cambria station site.

“We look forward to finalizing this agreement, which will make passenger rail a viable option for even more Virginians,” said DJ Stadtler, the VPRA’s executive director. “We appreciate Norfolk Southern’s partnership and look forward to working with them to expand passenger rail in the Commonwealth.” 

Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, a longtime advocate for extending passenger rail to Southwest Virginia, hailed the proposal as an important step toward limiting surface transportation on Interstate 81 — and doing it in a more timely manner than originally planned. 

“I see this as another ability to alleviate some of the congestion growth on Interstate 81,” Austin said in a phone interview Tuesday. “The new location going to the old train station in Christiansburg is a nice use of an old terminal, there is adequate parking there, and the facilities are nice and can be renovated to bring back new life. Trying to go through the Merrimac Tunnel would have been a disaster. I’m just really happy about the whole process, I think we made a wise decision here.”

The inclusion of the Manassas Line in the new agreement also gives VPRA the flexibility to work with the Virginia Railway Express to expand service along their Manassas Line. The ability to add evening and weekend service is something the commuter agency has recently sought as commuting trends have changed, and the need for service beyond traditional commuting times has increased.

Mike McClellan, Norfolk Southern’s chief strategy officer, hailed the agreement as having the potential “to benefit generations of Virginians with reliable, convenient rail travel, while also balancing the needs of the freight rail network the economy relies on.”