The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority is set to consider on Tuesday a way to bring passenger rail service to the New River Valley a year or two earlier than previously anticipated and at a cost of at least $100 million less.
The authority will review a proposal under which Amtrak service would be extended on Norfolk Southern’s main line to Christiansburg’s historic Cambria train station, and the authority would buy Norfolk Southern’s Manassas line in Northern Virginia, according to agenda documents published online ahead of the authority’s Tuesday board meeting.
The new deal would cost the authority a net $444 million and would bring passenger rail service, which currently ends in Roanoke, to the New River Valley no later than in 2027. Under the authority’s earlier plan, passenger service would instead begin in 2028 using a different rail line and train station in Christiansburg, and even the least expensive of several options would cost $545 million, an estimate that has risen as design work has progressed since the concept was developed in 2022, according to the agenda documents.