A former passenger rail station still sits near tracks in Cambria. The first is privately owned, while a second is being used by Norfolk Southern as a maintenance facility.
Marty Gordon
Rising costs for a preferred route for passenger service through the New River Valley has quickly changed the whole project.
The project took on a whole new path this past week o,r in the case of the train, a whole different rail line.
The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority has agreed to sell approximately 28 miles of track back to Norfolk Southern. Initially, the Commonwealth had bought this same line from Salem to Christiansburg to enable passenger service to be on its own set of tracks with no freight traffic.
Norfolk Southern could then move freight traffic back to the older line. Five years ago, the plan included a small platform and possible station to be located across the street from the Christiansburg Aquatics Center. After a community study, the location was then moved to a site near the Uptown Mall. Gradually, the plan then pushed the site closer to the Virginia Line’s Merrimac connection.
This where the cost started to skyrocket. In February, officials from the Virginia Rail Authority said bringing passenger rail service to the New River Valley could cost a staggering $1 billion.
At the center of that play was a train tunnel that is almost one-mile long. The Merrimac tunnel was built in the early 1930’s and has undergone some work in the past 10 years to allow “double-stacked” freight cars. But with the increase in speeds from a planned Amtrak service and the need for new safety measures, the tunnel is facing some major improvements.
Under the National Fire Protection Association standard, this would include construction of three ventilation fan banks that would be installed throughout the tunnel. In addition, work would have to be done to widen the tunnel to accommodate emergency walkways at the track level.
Also, a 15-story and a 20-story shaft would have to be driven to the surface to allow for emergency access.
The state of Virginia had purchased the former Virginia Line, which runs from Salem through the tunnel. Any travel westward would have had to progress through the tunnel and a secondary track would have to be laid down to allow a train to move into Christiansburg.
The initial plan was to have passenger service up and running to the New River Valley by this year. Now, the earliest any type of service could start is 2028.
Officials deeper in western Virginia including those in Bristol are hoping the service can be extended all the way there, but again would require some major work to the infrastructure including the Merrimac tunnel.
The new plan will include moving everything again, thus pushing the project even further down the road. But it would include eliminating the large amount of money needed to deal with the Merrimac Tunnel. Now, the major cost would be to provide the stop in Christiansburg while upgrading the rail lines from Salem to the NRV.
Additional monies have been approved for infrastructure improvements in Roanoke to accommodate more trains and rights to run passenger service on Norfolk Southern’s Main Line to Christiansburg. The funding will also cover costs to build a platform and siding track at the former Cambria station site.
A new agreement between Norfolk Southern and the state would also support the expansion of two Amtrak round trips to Christiansburg and provide for a third, operating between Roanoke and Christiansburg.
When considering the station itself, it could become easier as two former sites still exist in Cambria near the rail line. One is privately owned while a second is being used by Norfolk Southern as a maintenance stop.
There could be a question on what type of amenities would be also be needed, but the Authority hopes to discuss the details over the next few months.
For now, passenger rail to the NRV is still on the drawing board and not any closer as it was six years ago.
