Beginning in 2027, riders can travel by train from Washington D.C. to Christiansburg on the same Amtrak route that currently ends in Roanoke. State and local leaders celebrated the groundbreaking of the station Thursday.
Governor Glenn Youngkin, Senator Tim Kaine and Congressman Morgan Griffith stood side by side to shovel dirt at the train station in Christiansburg.
Youngkin recalled his first train trip at age 13 out of Richmond. “And my sister and I still talk about that trip,” Youngkin said. “That moment with our parents. The time sitting there playing cards, playing cribbage with my dad. A moment to share experience that is unlike any travel experience that we can have.”
That was in 1979, the same year passenger rail service in Christiansburg ended. According to the agreement between Virginia Passenger Rail Authority and Norfolk Southern, the station will have a new platform and canopy and a parking lot. The New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority will be renovating the station building in Cambria.
An Amtrak layover facility will also be in nearby Radford, to do maintenance on the trains and turn them around for the return trip to D.C.
Congressman Griffith said when they first began talking about bringing passenger rail to Lynchburg, and eventually onto Bristol, he didn’t think it would be a success. But he changed his mind when he saw how many people took the train to Lynchburg and then Roanoke.
“And I’m excited to be here with you to celebrate this great day, because I think we’re gonna have a gorgeous station,” Griffith said, adding that he's a fan of a nearby antique shop across the street. “We’re gonna have a piece of history. And we’re gonna have a look into the soul of this region.”
The building where the train station will be located is currently owned by Northfolk Southern, and the railway company will move to a new building nearby.
Cambria was an independent town until it was absorbed into Christiansburg in 1964. In the early 1900s, the Cambria depot was a stop on a route that ran from Birmingham, Alabama to New York City. Later, it was a stop for an Amtrak train called the Hilltopper, which went from Boston to eastern Kentucky. Amtrak discontinued the Hilltopper in 1979, which meant towns in Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee were cut off from passenger rail service.
For decades, lawmakers have been trying to work on an agreement to bring passenger rail back to the New River Valley. Initially, plans were to bring the train to the Christiansburg mall, but this Cambria option was more affordable and quicker than building a new station from scratch.
Senator Kaine said bringing passenger rail to Christiansburg is possible with funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill Congress passed in 2021. He’s hopeful they can work on eventually extending passenger rail to Bristol.
“A key ingredient in Bristol, which we haven’t needed till now, but we will need is, excitement and cooperation from our Tennessee colleagues,” Kaine said.
Youngkin echoed that support for one day continuing the train to Bristol, which he said could connect Southwest Virginia to other parts of the southeast through passenger rail.
