WASHINGTON — Plans to lure drivers off Interstate 95 with more reliable and faster train service from D.C. to Richmond and beyond are moving forward with public meetings this week on the best routes and schedules, and the potential environmental impact of the plan.
Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration are considering plans to work with CSX, which owns the tracks, to build a new track on new right-of-way along some, or all, of the corridor. It would allow more freight and passenger trains to use the route, all with fewer delays.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he has met with federal leaders, like Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, to talk about the Southeast High Speed Rail plan, which includes speeding up trains from Northern Virginia through Fredericksburg to Hampton Roads, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
“You want to make sure when you get on that train if you’re in Richmond or down in the Hampton Roads region [that] you’re going to arrive at a certain time, not get stuck behind a freight car,” he says.
Even if the improvements are made over coming years or decades, riders should not expect anything like a bullet train.
“We can’t say high speed rail, we’ve got to say higher speed rail, ‘cause we don’t have the rail to do the high speed, but higher speed rail and dedicated times,” McAuliffe says.
The changes could cut the trip between D.C. and Richmond by half an hour, to just over two hours each way. The changes would also allow more frequent service that would be expected to be more reliable.
The corridor has a mix of homes, businesses, military installations and national parks next to the tracks that could complicate adding an extra track in some segments.
The first public meeting on the potential alternatives for the route in Northern Virginia is Monday night at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town, with a second Tuesday at the Dorothy Hart Community Center in Fredericksburg and a third Wednesday in Richmond at the DMV at 2300 W. Broad St. All the meetings are open from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
This Tier II Environmental Impact Statement will focus on the area between Arlington and Richmond. It is scheduled to be completed by 2017, and Virginia could then apply for federal funding for projects that are identified in the process. Some of those projects will have already gone through preliminary engineering designs and cost estimates. Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Lynne McCarthy says the projects would likely be done in phases.
Separate steps are being taken to improve Amtrak, VRE and freight rail service over the Long Bridge connecting Arlington with D.C., and on the tracks connecting that bridge over the Potomac to Union Station. The service plan for this project will factor those changes in.
There are also other efforts as part of the Southeast High Speed Rail initiative to examine other parts of the rail network south of Richmond including connections through the Carolinas to Atlanta, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida.
Overall, project planners from the states involved and the federal government hope to provide a “viable alternative” to air and car travel.
