VA Gov. Northam proposes $50 million to advance goal of bringing passenger rail to New River Valley

[mahatmakanejeeves]

So it goes from Roanoke to Radford, and then it stops, or what? You've gone to all the trouble of crossing the Alleghenies, so why not go on to West Virginia? Or, better, head south and serve Bristol and Knoxville?

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Northam proposes $50 million to advance goal of bringing passenger rail to New River Valley

Amy Friedenberger 22 min ago

Gov. Ralph Northam unveiled his proposed changes to the state’s two-year budget, which includes funding for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations and other pandemic assistance and $50 million to advance a goal to extend Amtrak passenger rail service to the New River Valley. ... New River Valley government and community leaders have been eager to restore passenger rail to the region to boost economic development and provide long-distance transportation for students enrolled at Virginia Tech and Radford University.

The plan has been chugging along for some time, but speaking to the House and Senate’s budget-writing committee on Wednesday, the Northam administration said the $50 million would allow the project to gather steam. The funding would go toward right-of-way and easement acquisitions and anything that would help reduce bottlenecks to make way for a passenger train in the New River Valley. ... It’s not a done deal yet, and there is no firm timeline for when the state and Norfolk Southern Corp. will strike an agreement.

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{Jennifer Mitchell, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said in an interview} a preliminary ridership forecast shows one train out of the New River Valley would attract 16,000 to 20,000 riders a year. .... Transportation officials have said a need is clear for different forms of transportation to move up and down Western Virginia as an alternative to the congested Interstate 81.

For instance, the Virginia Breeze bus line that connects Blacksburg to Washington, D.C., carried nearly 29,000 riders in 2019, well exceeding the forecast of 7,000 annual riders, according to the public transportation department. Even with buses operating at 50% capacity during the pandemic, more buses have been added to handle the ridership. The public transportation department has studied adding additional stops and extending it to Bristol. .... The General Assembly will convene Jan. 13 for its regular session to consider bills and make any changes to the budget.

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Amy Friedenberger
Amy Friedenberger is the politics and policy reporter for The Roanoke Times. She's been a reporter here since 2014. Follow her on Twitter at @ajfriedenberger. She can be reached at 540-981-3356 or [e-mail].