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Passenger train to Norfolk, Va., to launch by year’s end
This is good news but the service still requires a connection at Petersburg. Have they started construction?
If Amtrak is involved I will have to see it to believe it.
Yes, construction started last fall, The track work on the NS side is nearly finished, CSX just got plans approved, and should begin work soon. NS has placed their signal house, but there is no power to it yet. A second phase will extend the Belt Line siding to the new switch to the connection track. A road bridge has to be replaced to allow that to happen. The connection track is complete, except for the last few hundred feet, where it will connect to CSX’s switch. Final elevation and track geometry will be done when CSX has installed their switch.
Vern
I’m sorry that I am a Republican and support Amtrak. Ain’t many of us! Methinks Romney is a dolt, advocating termination of Amtrak, but Utah has little Amtrak service, except to get to get thru the miserable wasteland going to better places. Wonder why. Can Wyoming and South Dakota tell us?
Scott walker should be ashamed of what he has done in killing this type of passenger service in Wisconsin. Total lack of foresight and brains for that matter.
Scott walker should be ashamed of what he has done in killing this type of passenger service in Wisconsin. Total lack of foresight and brains for that matter.
The connection betrween CSX and Norfolk Southern south of Petersburg, VA is well underway.
The new station platform in Norfolk near the Harbor Park is also moving right along.
Daniel - Construction’s been going on for a while now. I was just down in the Collier Yard area a couple of weeks ago, but the view across to the site was obstructed by trailers. There’s some videos on YouTube showing the progress if you search around.
Unlike many states Virgina has seen that it can’t build enough roads to end the need for trains. They are spending 10 billion dollars to do a 12 mile HOT lane system inside the existing 6 to 8 lanes in each direction I-495 beltway lanes between the Dulles Toll Road and the mixing bowl at I-495 , I-395 , I-95 junction. The replacement Woodrow Wilson bridge was supposed to cost 800 million and instead cost 5 billion. The replacement Mixing Bowl was supposed to be 68 million and it cost 1.2 Billion to finish. Even with all that work the peak times which which are now 3 hours in the morning and then in the afternoon will only achieve an F level of traffic flow.
I agree with William Hays…I am a Republican who is a lifelong supporter of Amtrak and passenger rail. ANYBODY but Romney!
Thank you Virginia and Amtrak!
The photo of the Amtrak train is good, though judging from the angle of the sun and knowing the local surroundings of Alexandria where I live, it appears that the train is headed south toward Richmond, not north.
You boys can pay for it! I pay enough already
Part of this equation is that Virginia has a Republican Governor who, although a conservative, is not ideologically opposed to trains, and as are all the Republican candidates for President. He has recognized the historic role rail plays in Virginia’s economy, and that no amount of paving will solve Northern Virginia’s dire transportation crisis.
As I work as a long-distance truck driver, I swear that I-95 in northern Virginia is by far one of the most congested highways in the nation. I’ve also been on the trains to/from Newport News and the house is full on weekends. If Virginia wants a real answer to their transportation problems in the Hampton Roads area, it is high time they consider building a rail tunnel between Norfolk and Newport News.
My last two trips by car from DC to Richmond took 7 hours instead of 2. To widen 95 any further in Northern Virginia would mean displacing huge swaths of residential and commercial property on either side. There is nowhere left to expand and no other solution. Simple as that.
how convenient is the ‘Tide’ (light rail station) to the Amtrak station in Norfolk?
I hope they name it “The Cavalier.”