NEW RIVER VALLEY, Va. – Amtrak could be coming to the New River Valley sooner than expected, as the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority board voted Tuesday to approve a new plan that would expedite the process for a lower cost. It’s planned for the historic Cambria station in Christiansburg.
While plans to bring passenger trains to Christiansburg have been in the works for a while, officials feared that things may be going off the rails.
“We reached out to Norfolk Southern and said, ‘Hey, is there another way we can do this because we really need to extend the service, but the cost is much higher than any of us imagined,’” DJ Stadtler, Executive Director with the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority said in the meeting. “Thankfully, Norfolk Southern was receptive.”
The new project costs $100 million less and includes a Bedford stop. Now that the board has approved the project, they plan to close the deal in early September. You could say nearby businesses like Cambria Station Antiques are excited.
“We would be a great spot for somebody that needs to kill 10-15 minutes or a couple hours to come here and wander around our three floors,” Heather Vaughan, co-owner at Cambria Station Antiques said.
Vaughan said she’s already planning to take a trip herself.
“I think it’ll be great, we’ll use it personally,” Vaughan said. “I think there’s a lot of Virginia Tech students that would use it to get to northern Virginia or above, and I think that it would be a great asset to Christiansburg.”
Amtrak aims to begin operation by 2027, a year sooner than originally planned.