VRE is adding Saturday service to Washington, D.C.
Central Virginia residents will soon have more passenger rail service into Washington, D.C., northern Virginia, and Richmond.
Virginia Railway Express has approved adding passenger rail service on Saturdays sometime within the next ten months.
VRE spokeswoman Karen Finucan-Clarkson says the final implementation of the new service is being delayed by contract negotiations with CSX, which owns the tracks on the Fredericksburg line, and Norfolk Southern Railroad which owns the tracks on the Manassas line.
She says VRE is also waiting for Amtrak to complete badly needed switching and signal work at Union Station in D.C., which is currently being done on weekends.
VRE plans to add six trains, three in the morning on Saturday into D.C. and three in the afternoon, terminating at the Spotsylvania station. It will be the first weekend service in the commuter railroad’s 32-year history.
The addition of weekend service for VRE is part of a long-term passenger railroad upgrade in Virgnia that started in 2019. Amtrak plans to eventually increase its service between D.C. and Richmond, through Fredericksburg, by as much as 60% by 2030.
Ian Ollis, from the Fredericksburg Metropolitan Area Planning Organization, or FAMPO, says Virginia has allocated $4.5 billion for long-term upgrades, and the federal government has kicked in $1 billion to improve the D.C. to Richmond corridor.
That includes the addition of a third track along the corridor, which will designated for passenger rail service only, to separate passenger trains from freight trains. The current tracks are up to 94% capacity.
By long-standing railroad tradition, passenger trains are supposed to have priority on the tracks, but according to Ollis, Amtrak has complained that is not the case right now across the country.
Results of the upgrade can already be seen at the Quantico train station, where a just completed overhaul includes a new sheltered platform, elevators, and several miles of the third track.
In Stafford County, a segment of the third track is planned between the Brooke Road VRE station and the Dahlgren Junction in 2026-27. But more track won’t be added to connect to Fredericksburg until a new bridge can be constructed across the Rappahannock River. Design and planning for that has not yet begun.
The rail improvements will also have some temporary but significant impact on motorists in Stafford County starting late in 2025. That’s when the Leeland Road Bridge will be torn down so that a longer one can be built to go over the third track.
This project alone will cost $24 million and will take 22 months to complete. Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kelly Hannon says 3,286 vehicles per day use the Leeland Road Bridge.
Passenger rail service in Virginia has been increasing steadily since expansion was announced by Governor Ralph Northam in 2019. The number of Amtrak passengers between D.C. and Richmond is up 13.7% to almost 13,000 per month as of April, according to the Virginia Rail Passenger Authority.
VRE reports an increase of about 12,000 passengers per month between July of 2023 and July of this year.
At present, VRE has no estimate on how many people might ride the expected Saturday service, but Finucan-Clarkson says it is definitely needed.
Construction of the entire stretch of third track from D.C. to Spotsylvania probably won’t be finished until 2030-31, and it could take several years beyond that to connect all the way to Richmond. But work has already begun on adding new track on the Long Bridge across the Potomac from D.C. into Virginia.
FAMPO will brief local elected officials and the public on the progress of these projects next Monday, August 19, at 6 p.m., at the George Washington Regional Commission office at 406 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg.
This story was updated at 11:30 a.m. on August 15 to correct the estimated date of completion of the stretch of third track in Stafford County and the entire stretch of third track from D.C. to Spotsylvania, as well as the percent of total track capacity in use. Story was updated at 4 p.m. to correct the number of new trains VRE will add on Saturdays.
By Hank Silverberg
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