ALEXANDRIA, Va., — The new Spotsylvania station on Virginia Railway Express’ Fredericksburg Line that was originally planned to open two years ago is now slated to open by the end of the year.
Bryan Jungwirth, director of public affairs and government relations for VRE, says VRE hopes to have an exact opening date within the next month.
“We realize it’s been a long, arduous road to get there, but the end is near,” he tells WTOP.
“I can tell you: by the end of the year … we will have that station open by the end of the year — I feel comfortable saying that. I don’t want to go any further than that at this point,” he says.
Some of the initial delays were tied to issues of eminent domain that continue even as construction nears completion.
Jungwirth says that recent design changes and weather delays have caused the project to slip from an opening that was expected by summer.
“It looks nearly ready,” he says.
“The parking lot is fully paved and the striping is just about being finalized, but we’re waiting on some electrical work and some communication work that needs to be equipped at the station before we can actually announce an opening date,” he adds.
The electrical work includes some pieces from a factory in South Carolina; the communications work regards ticket vending machines, security cameras and passenger information screens, which Verizon can now come in and complete since other pieces are in.
The new station, with a 1,500-space parking lot, is at the new Crossroads Station development, along the U.S. 17 Bypass about six miles south of the Fredericksburg station. The station is about three miles east of Interstate 95.
“That will be the southernmost terminus of the Fredericksburg Line for VRE and, according to our operations board, at least for the foreseeable future, will not go any farther south than that,” Jungwirth says.
The line, which carries about 5,000 people each day (around 10,000 total trips), will still be called the Fredericksburg Line.
VRE’s next expansion plans are to the west on the Manassas Line, where the latest round of studies are just getting underway regarding an extension to Gainesville or Haymarket. That extension is likely five to 10 years away.
Jungwirth says an additional train will be added to the Fredericksburg Line “at some point” after the Spotsylvania station opens.
In addition to delays in construction of the station, there have been delays in construction of a third track in the area that is being added in conjunction with the project after a contractor was ordered to stop work over safety violations.
Work on that third track has resumed.
