Virginia DOT and governor announce expansion into new River valley.

[blue streak 1]

NPR radio has article that states NS has agreeded to the service.

Gov. Northam to Make Rail Expansion Announcement | WVTF

EDIT for those who have not read this will extend from Roanoke to Christansburgh.  Some links say on old Virginian RR but not confirmed and will be eventually 2 round trips, 

[BaltACD]

blue streak 1

NPR radio has article that states NS has agreeded to the service.

Gov. Northam to Make Rail Expansion Announcement | WVTF

From - To - Connecting?

I have always feature the New River Valley as being relatively rural in nature - with chemical plants being the primary industry.  

I don't know that much about the Western areas of Virginia.

Very poorly written article.

[MidlandMike]

NewsWire article says between Roanoke and Christiansburg:

https://www.trains.com/trn/virginia-norfolk-southern-reach-agreement-to-extend-amtrak-service-to-new-river-valley/

Since it is an Amtrak service, shouldn't this thread have been posted on the Passenger section?  (Although I think Trains should just combine Transit and Passenger topics.)

[blue streak 1]

Sorry about posting this in transit my error.  Moderators pls move to Passenger if possible,

[blue streak 1]

Here is a link that sort of confirms story.  Nothing about Virginian.

Virginia, Norfolk Southern reach $257M deal to expand rail in southwest Virginia - The Virginian-Pilot (pilotonline.com)

EDIT  Just found Virginian part.  Title is incorrect.

Norfolk Southern Railway to expand passenger rail to Southwest Virginia (augustafreepress.com)

[Overmod]

https://transformingrailva.com/

Strange that the link in the last news story redirects here without further comment.

There is some pretty strong rhetoric from the likes of Edwards and Hurst.  I certainly hope the increased passenger utilization of the southern extension of this service justifies the supposed 'demands' that it be provided.

[rixflix]

The origional quoted article sort of conflated the Northern and Southwestern Virginia projects and was worthless. Later articles cleared things up a little, but 220,000 trips on Amtrak's DC-Roanoke train is very misleading. I rode the train on weekdays in 2018 and 2019. At Roanoke no more than a dozen people detrained at 9:45PM or boarded at 6:09AM. Intermediate stops must have enjoyed all the other business. the 5 hour down trip left me really ready for the Hotel Roanoke.

I'd estimate projected additional ridership from Christianburg at closer to 8,000 rather than 80,000 per year, unless an awful lot of students and alumni show up. The locals/townies seem committed to their boulevard/backwoods battlewagon SUVs and pickups.

Rick  

[charlie hebdo]

Christianburg is part of a rapidly growing MSA which includes Virginia Tech.  The population of the MSA in 2010 was about 162,000, so probably closer to 200,000 now.