An infrastructure project in Washington, D.C., will reduce Amtrak train service in Roanoke and Lynchburg and eliminate it in Danville for nine days next month.
The project, “Pause for Progress,” aims to replace switches and other aging track components in the First Street Tunnel by Washington’s Union Station. It will cut Amtrak service between Washington and Alexandria and affect multiple train routes south of Alexandria.
Work will begin after service ends on Oct. 16 and will wrap up before service resumes on Oct. 26, Amtrak said in a news release.
“A short-term, coordinated outage is more efficient due to the confined tunnel environment and limited access, making phased construction impractical,” Amtrak said in its release. “Customers traveling to or from Washington, D.C. from the south should expect significant service reductions and train cancellations.”
During the nine-day period, the normal twice-daily round trips between Roanoke and Washington on the Northeast Regional line will be reduced to one daily round trip between Roanoke and Alexandria.
The train that leaves Roanoke in the afternoon will be canceled during this period, and the morning train will leave Roanoke at 9:48 a.m. The train will return to Roanoke at 10:23 p.m. each day, according to Amtrak’s booking website.
Amtrak will offer buses for riders who want to continue to Washington after reaching Alexandria. Metro service between Alexandria and Washington also will be available.
Amtrak’s temporary plan also calls for a bus, called the Amtrak Virginia Express Bus Service, to offer one round trip daily between Roanoke and Washington, stopping in Lynchburg.
The express bus will not stop in Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas or Burke Centre as the Northeast Regional train does. However, another express bus will run from Charlottesville directly to Union Station.
Meanwhile, Amtrak’s Crescent line ordinarily stops in Danville and Lynchburg as it runs between New York and New Orleans.
During “Pause for Progress,” it will not stop in either city. Instead, it will run only between Washington and New York, and separately between Atlanta and New Orleans.
Local officials applaud Amtrak upgrades
Lynchburg’s director of economic development and tourism, Marjette Upshur, said in an email that the city recognizes that Amtrak’s temporary service reductions will cause some inconvenience.
She encouraged travelers to review their itineraries carefully and monitor communications from Amtrak before traveling.
“While short-term disruptions are never ideal, we understand that this concentrated construction period is intended to improve the safety and long-term reliability of the passenger rail system,” Upshur said. “The City remains strongly supportive of reliable passenger rail service and its continued growth in Lynchburg and throughout the Commonwealth.”
Danville City Manager Ken Larking said that he is a regular Amtrak customer and knows several people who use the service.
“I am glad that they are making upgrades to the infrastructure so that people can have an even better experience,” Larking said in an email.
Roanoke officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Amtrak: Components are beyond service life
Amtrak said that “Pause for Progress” will improve a critical point within the First Street Tunnel that is responsible for routing all Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express train movements between Union Station and Virginia.
“The existing switches and crossovers are beyond their service life, requiring a 10-mph speed restriction that impacts operations,” Amtrak said in its news release. “‘Pause for Progress’ is designed to address those limitations and help prevent larger, unplanned service disruptions.”
Amtrak said it is coordinating with the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, the Virginia Railway Express — a commuter rail service for Northern Virginia and Washington — and North Carolina’s state transportation department “to ensure consistent messaging and a seamless customer experience.”
According to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, Amtrak’s Roanoke corridor saw nearly 370,000 passengers in 2025. The highest month of ridership on that corridor was in November, when it saw 34,885 passengers.
Separately from “Pause for Progress,” work is underway to build a new train station in Christiansburg to extend passenger rail service to that community. That service is expected to begin in 2027.
