Virginia launches 10-year passenger rail plan

摘要

The Commonwealth of Virginia has reached agreement with CSX Corp, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express to expand inter-city and regional passenger services in order to relieve the congested 1-95 highway south of Washington DC. A 10-year programme entitled Transforming Rail in Virginia was unveiled by Governor Ralph Northam and Federal Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttegieg on March 30. This builds on plans unveiled in December 2019 to invest an estimated US$3.7bn, potentially including a proposed Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor. The state is to acquire more than 360 route-km from CSX, which confirmed on April 15 that it had reached closure on the first phase of the $525m three-stage deal.