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Virginia Breaks Ground to Extend Passenger Rail to the New River Valley

By April 28, 2025Uncategorized
Governor Glenn Youngkin, wearing a yellow safety vest, is flanked by state and local leaders to celebrate extension of Amtrak Virginia service to Christiansburg.

CHRISTIANSBURG, VA – Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin broke ground on April 24, 2025, on the highly-anticipated New River Valley Rail Project in Christiansburg. As part of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority’s (VPRA) Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative, the New River Valley Project encompasses railroad infrastructure upgrades that will allow VPRA to extend its Amtrak Virginia service from Roanoke to Christiansburg and return passenger rail service to the New River Valley for the first time since 1979.

“Today’s groundbreaking represents a lot of hard work, determination and collaboration. We are here today because people came to the table and worked together to execute a new and dramatically better deal – one that accelerates the return of passenger rail service to the New River Valley years earlier, on a better line, and at a much lower cost to Virginia’s taxpayers – than the one I inherited. I look forward to all that this station will do to support and grow such an important region of the Commonwealth.”

– Governor Glenn Youngkin

About the New River Valley Project

The estimated cost of VPRA’s New River Valley Project is $264.5 million. Preliminary construction began in late February 2025 with full construction commencing this spring. The project includes:

  • A new station platform with canopy.
  • Parking lot and access roads.
  • Track improvements and updated signaling system.
  • An Amtrak layover facility in nearby Radford.

“I want to thank VPRA and Norfolk Southern for coming together last year to reach an all-around better deal for Virginians,” Virginia Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller III said. “The new agreement between VPRA and Norfolk Southern is the reason we are here breaking ground on a project that will provide additional connectivity and promote economic growth in the New River Valley.”

The extension of service to Christiansburg will be via Norfolk Southern’s main line (N-Line), the result of an agreement between VPRA and Norfolk Southern completed last September through which VPRA purchased the Manassas Line and gained access to the N-Line. By expanding service from Roanoke to Christiansburg on the N-Line, VPRA will use existing infrastructure with a focus on developing a station stop at the Cambria site which previously served the community from 1904 to 1979. The project will also enhance Norfolk Southern’s freight service through the area.

The New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority – created by the Virginia General Assembly in 2021 – has the lead in the renovation of the historic Christiansburg depot at Cambria. It will be called the New River Valley Station and renovations are expected to begin in 2027.

Amtrak Virginia Service

Amtrak Virginia service is expected to begin in 2027 with two daily roundtrips between Christiansburg and Washington, D.C., with stops in Roanoke, Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas, Burke Centre and Alexandria. Trip times are estimated to be 50 minutes between Christiansburg and Roanoke and just under six hours between Christiansburg and Washington, D.C. From the nation’s capital, the service will continue onto Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to Philadelphia, New York City, Boston and points in-between.

“We are witnessing a remarkable resurgence of passenger rail in the Commonwealth,” Tiffany Robinson, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), said. “Virginia is already home to some of the busiest Amtrak stations in the Southeast, and we continue to see record ridership year after year. I’m proud of DRPT’s partnership with the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority on this transformative project, and I’m excited to see the New River Valley take its place in the growing future of passenger rail across the Commonwealth.”

The Commonwealth of Virginia first launched State Supported Amtrak service in 2009 with one roundtrip on what’s now the Roanoke corridor between Lynchburg and Washington, D.C. Since that time, the Commonwealth’s service has grown to include eight roundtrips daily along four corridors with stops at 17 stations in Virginia and one in Washington, D.C.

Service on the Roanoke Corridor was extended from Lynchburg to Roanoke in late 2017 and later increased to two daily roundtrips. Ridership along the corridor has grown from just over 100,000 between Lynchburg and Washington that first year to over 343,000 between Roanoke and Washington last year.

Posted April 28, 2025.