Residents in the New River Valley got a clearer picture of what passenger rail service to the region may look like Monday evening at an open house put on by the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority at the Blacksburg Community Center.
The open house featured a presentation from the VPRA detailing the three proposed alternatives for a train platform and layover facilities in the Christiansburg area as well as the opportunity for attendees to answer a survey on the topic. If one of the plans goes ahead, Amtrak service could begin in the region as soon as 2028. The New River Valley has not had passenger rail service since 1979.
“They want train service to come here as soon and safely as possible, and there’s a lot of really educated thought on the various options,” VPRA chief operating officer Michael McLaughlin said he was hearing from members of the public Monday. “We’re trying to hopefully bring that transparency and helping to explain why the process might take some time. The sentiment has been really thoughtful, helpful, constructive thought.”
Efforts to return Amtrak service to the New River Valley have been ongoing for more than a decade, but talks picked up steam recently when more state and local funding was committed to the project, including placeholder funding in Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposed budget for this year. The estimated cost of the options range from $366 million to $951 million, depending on the chosen facility locations and related track improvements.
The vast differences in cost center around the Merrimac Tunnel on the old Virginian Railway line that passes along the north side of Christiansburg. The mile-long tunnel, one of two on the “V-line” between the Roanoke and New River valleys, was completed in 1908 and is not up to current safety standards. One proposal — the cheaper option at an estimated $366 million — would locate the station and passenger platform and all Amtrak facilities east of the tunnel off Cinnabar Road. Another, closer to the original plan, includes facilities at the originally proposed site near the New River Valley Mall, west of the tunnel. That checks in at $951 million. The intermediate option, with a platform near the mall and layover facilities at the Cinnabar Road site, is estimated at $785 million.
The Virginia Rail Passenger Authority is expected to vote at its June meeting on which plan to adopt. The rising cost of the New River Valley project, driven primarily by the cost of renovating the Merrimac Tunnel, has raised concerns among some state legislators that the proposed extension to Bristol might be in jeopardy. At last week’s authority meeting, board member Beth Rhinehart of Bristol repeatedly urged the authority not to adopt any station site in the New River Valley that would preclude an extension further west.
The proposed location of a New River Valley passenger rail station that avoids the Merrimac Tunnel. Courtesy of Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. 
The location and cost of the proposed route to the New River Valley Mall location. Courtesy of Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. 
The third option for a New River Valley station, a temporary platform on Cinnabar Road and a later one near New River Valley Mall. Courtesy of Virginia Passenger Rail Authority
All of the options utilize the V-line route rather than the main Norfolk Southern line that plays host to the majority of freight between the two valleys. The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority and NS came to an agreement for the purchase of the 28 miles of V-line track between Salem and Christiansburg in June 2022.
“The region is absolutely committed to it,” said Kevin Byrd, executive director of the New River Valley Regional Commission. “We just want to have service in the New River Valley. And the state has been highly creative … so that’s encouraging.”
Byrd, who has seen the passenger rail efforts mobilize from a well-received survey his organization put out more than a decade ago to now the public-opinion phase of the project, said the optimism in the region is palpable.
“We’ve never wavered in our vision on it,” he said. “Only now, we have more information that brings it more into focus.”
Christine Waltz attended the meeting and took the VPRA survey in the hope of helping to narrow that focus. The Christiansburg resident said she came out Monday night to make sure she had the facts on the project.
“I would say I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Waltz, who added that she was excited about easier access to family in Northern Virginia and the tourism opportunities in Washington, D.C. and points farther.
David Elliott, another Christiansburg resident in the crowd, said he showed up for two reasons.
“I’d love to be able to hop on the train and go to D.C. or New York,” Elliott said, but also the proposed station site near the mall is close to his house. Elliott has concerns about traffic from the rail station spilling over into nearby neighborhoods and also the environmental impact of more development in an area that has already grown considerably in recent decades.
Both attendees stressed the excitement of avoiding traffic on the oft-congested Interstate 81 once service begins.
For Byrd’s part, he sees the line as a tangible connection to the major population centers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
“Being able to be connected more to other metropolitan areas, that’s a major economic opportunity,” he said.
Initial studies conducted by Byrd’s NRVRC estimated 40,000 passengers per year on Amtrak out of the New River Valley. After seeing Roanoke, which reinstated passenger rail service in 2017, exceed its projections, Byrd is confident that the same will occur up the mountain.
In the meantime, the VRPA is looking for the project to continue to gather momentum as it comes closer to fruition, and he also cited Roanoke’s Amtrak success as a motivating factor.
“That was a big deal, and that step to get to Roanoke was a significant step and I think laid the groundwork for the next step, which is the New River Valley,” McLaughlin said. “You can watch a movie on the train. You can get something to eat on the train. It’s easy to relax and enjoy the scenery on the train.
“It’s just another tool in the toolbox for people. You don’t have to rely on 81, which we know can be unpredictable, but it gives people an option to travel not just from here to Northern Virginia but all the way to New York and points in between.”
