Tracks 3 Opened 1857 | Disabled access Yes | |
 | ||
Location Norfolk Avenue SW
Roanoke, Virginia Platforms 1 side platform (planned) Connections Greyhound
SmartWay Bus
Valley Metro Closed April 30, 1971
October 1, 1979 Similar Virginian Railway Passeng, Staunton River Battlefield, Kemper Street station, O Winston Link Museum, Virginia Museum of Transportation | ||
Roanoke is a planned train station in Roanoke, Virginia. It is planned to serve Amtrak's Northeast Regional line beginning in 2017. The station will connect Roanoke by passenger rail for the first time since 1979 when the Hilltopper was discontinued.
Contents
Early history
By the time of its 1852 incorporation, the town of Big Lick was already established as a transportation hub for western Virginia thanks to its position on the Great Wagon Road and the Wilderness Trail. The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad was completed from Lynchburg to Big Lick that same year, and on to Bristol in 1856. The Virginia and Tennessee became part of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad in 1870, which itself emerged from bankruptcy and was renamed as the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) in 1882.
The Shenandoah Valley Railroad was completed to the town (newly renamed Roanoke) from Hagerstown, Maryland in 1882, and acquired by the N&W in 1890. Its unbuilt southern section was eventually completed as the Roanoke and Southern Railroad (the 'Punkin Vine') in 1892 and immediately leased to the N&W.
In 1905, the N&W constructed a station to replace the half-century-old depot.
The Virginian Railway was completed in 1909; a competitor to the N&W, it ran along a separate route along the Roanoke River. The Virginian constructed its own Roanoke station 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south of the N&W station; it served the Virginian until the end of passenger service in 1956.
End of service
The last train from Roanoke south to Winston-Salem on the 'Punkin Vine' was on February 18, 1961. Through sleepers were then still operated between Roanoke and New York (via Hagerstown and Harrisburg) on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and the N&W. The PRR discontinued service between Harrisburg and Hagerstown on February 25, 1962, and the N&W between Hagerstown and Waynesboro on June 10; the sleepers were rerouted via the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The last sleeper between Roanoke and Waynesboro ran on October 27, 1962, although local service continued until February 1963.
This left Roanoke with only east-west passenger service for the first time since 1882. The N&W continued to run trains, including the crack Norfolk-Cincinnati Pocahontas and the Birmingham-Washington Birmingham Special (unnamed after February 1970 and cut back to Bristol in August 1970) until April 30, 1971. When Amtrak took over most intercity passenger service on May 1, neither train was not included in its basic system, and Roanoke ceased to have passenger rail service.
1970s Amtrak service
Service was restored on March 24, 1975 with the introduction of the Mountaineer service between Norfolk and Chicago. Unlike most stations on the route, Amtrak did not reuse the former N&W station. Instead, an asphalt platform was built off Shenandoah Avenue near 4th Street, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the west.
The Mountaineer was replaced by the Hilltopper on June 1, 1977. The Hilltopper was discontinued on October 1, 1979, ending rail service to Roanoke for the second time.
Planned service
From 1996 to 2007, six different studies were performed on the Transdominion Express project, which would have created two new intercity rail routes from Bristol to Richmond and Washington, both via Roanoke. Although the project was not adopted by the state government after a final report which indicated poor ridership and low farebox recovery, it did provide an impetus for improving Amtrak service in Virginia on the highest-demand corridors. One daily Northeast Regional round trip was extended to Lynchburg in October 2009, supplementing the existing Crescent service.
In 2008, Virginia's transportation regulator, the Commonwealth Transportation Board, outlined plans for expanded rail service in the state, including to Roanoke. Following the introduction of state-supported Northeast Regional trains to Lynchburg and Norfolk, the state reached an agreement with the Norfolk Southern Railway in January 2014 to fund about $93 million in infrastructure improvements that would allow passenger service to reach Roanoke. Railroad construction was scheduled to be performed in 2015, with facilities in Roanoke, including the station, to follow in 2016, and service would begin by 2017 with a single round trip departing Roanoke for Washington, DC, in the morning and returning in the evening. Construction of the Roanoke facilities was delayed; a $4.9 million train storage facility was completed in early February 2017, and work on the $10.9 million station facility began later in the month, with completion scheduled for the end of the year.