Transit advocates are hoping to gather support for a plan to build a commuter rail line along the W&OD Trail from Purcellville, Virginia, to the Metro station at East Falls Church.
The rail line would be in the footprint of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad, which first began running in 1859 and faded away in 1968.
While residents and businesses continue to fill in around two newly opened Metro Silver Line stations in Loudoun County, the goal of the NOVA Transit Revitalization Advocacy Coalition is to bring commuter rail to already populated towns in western Loudoun County, through Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton and ending in Purcellville.
The train line would include stops in Fairfax County, including Herndon, Reston and Vienna, connecting with the Silver Line in Reston, and the Orange and Silver lines in East Falls Church.
Standing at the Herndon Depot — now a museum along the W&OD Trail in the town’s historic district — Ryan Jones, the founder and executive director for the NOVA-TRAC advocacy coalition, said the new commuter line would connect communities that already exist, but have been left out of mass transit planning.
“Here in Herndon, downtown Leesburg, Hamilton, Purcellville, they were built around the railroad — they’re already transit-oriented communities,” Jones said. “Look around here, there’s lots of walkable areas, a lot of buildings that have two or three stories with apartments — this is where people want to live, and they already live, and bringing transit back would be fantastic for everybody.”
The first sections of the 44-mile W&OD recreation trail, which stretches from Shirlington to Purcellville, opened in 1977 and the trail was completed in 1988.
It’s currently owned by NOVA Parks, which provides an easement for Dominion Energy power lines to run parallel to the trail.
According to Jones, the current right-of-way is wide enough to house the rail line and the trail.
“For most of its length, the trail actually owns 100 feet of land, and railways should only take up about 40 to 45 feet, so we anticipate that will leave plenty of green space and the train, and everything that bikers need,” Jones said.
“Quiet, fast, electric trains that don’t pollute, they don’t cause a lot of noise,” Jones said.
If the plan moved forward, Jones said some infrastructure projects would be needed to improve safety.
“We would really advocate for full grade separation — that is no crossing with roads,” Jones said. “For example, here in Herndon, we would support a 500-foot tunnel section” below the museum plaza and busy Elden Street, “until the trail emerges on the other side.”
Do small towns want new train lines?
In February, the town of Hamilton — where Jones grew up — passed a resolution to study the use of the trail corridor for rapid transit.
“The Town of Hamilton and western Loudoun has remained disconnected from the region’s rapid transportation network since the abandonment of the W&OD railroad,” according to the resolution.
While the Route 7 Bypass takes most of the traffic off Route 7 through the historic towns of Hamilton and Purcellville, speeding through the small towns has endangered passengers.
“Rapid transit reduces parking needs for businesses,” and “generates strong economic returns for local businesses and municipalities,” the resolution stated.
“What this railway would allow us to do is to keep our main streets and historic downtowns,” Jones said. “Let’s change the zoning, let’s legalize more of these historic downtowns, with these three or four story brick buildings — this is what people want, they want a small town, and they want it to stay small.”
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