Norfolk starts preparations for Amtrak train service

NORFOLK

Barely a month after light rail started rolling through town, work has begun at Harbor Park to bring passenger trains back to South Hampton Roads.

Construction is under way on track improvements and a station platform at the eastern edge of the Harbor Park parking lot, where a transportation hub will be created along Norfolk's waterfront. It's part of $101 million the state is spending to bring Amtrak service to the region in 2013.

The city has budgeted$3 million to build a train depot, which is now under design, with construction slatedto begin this winter.

Service will start with one train a day, departing Norfolk in the early morning for Richmond, Washington and beyond. Passengers will have one-seat service all the way to Boston, never having to change trains. For day travelers to Richmond and Washington, a late-afternoon train will return to Norfolk.

The goal is to build to three round-trip trains daily.

Norfolk public works director John Keifer said the city will finish constructing the 4,000-square-foot train station by this time next year. That's also when the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation expects to have the track infrastructure complete.

While the official target date to carry passengers is October 2013, state officials are aiming to launch before then.

"We're saying no later than the fall of 2013, but obviously we're working hard to make it sooner," said Courtney Moyer, a DRPT spokeswoman.

Since passenger rail in South Hampton Roads ended in 1977, the closest trains are across the harbor in Newport News.

About 44,000 residents from South Hampton Roads travel to Newport News each year to catch a train, said Bob Jackson, a city architect overseeing the station project. Amtrak officials have told the city they expect about 67,000 customers each year to use the Norfolk service, or close to 200 passengers a day.

"We need to have a signature building to make this the best rider experience you've ever had on a train," Jackson said. "The building has to be interesting, something that people will look at and say, 'That's cool.' "

He said a design may be ready by the end of the month. The city has contracted with Michael Baker Jr. Inc. to design the station and manage construction.

It's the start of a $16 million long-range plan to create a transportation hub at Harbor Park that would include light rail, ferries and buses.

For now, though, the city has reduced its first-phase budget from $6 million to $3 million, which will cover a canopy over the station platform, a 100-space parking lot, and the station building, which is being designed so it can later be expanded. A planned covered walkway between the Amtrak station and the light-rail station at the other corner of the eastern parking lot, a bus center and possibly a parking garage will have to come later, Keifer said.

Keifer said the sheltered walkway to The Tide light-rail line is not necessary yet because the Amtrak departure will be around 5 a.m. to link to the 7 a.m. Richmond service. Light rail's service doesn't start until 6 a.m.

Under the plan, Norfolk Southern Corp. tracks that roughly parallel U.S. 460 and CSX Corp. tracks from Petersburg to Richmond are being upgraded to accommodate passenger trains running at conventional speeds of up to 79 mph.

The state decided to develop the conventional rail service in such a way that it could be upgraded to high-speed rail, which would run at speeds of up to 110 mph. Officials have said it could be a couple of decades before higher-speed service comes to Hampton Roads because it requires separate passenger- and freight-train tracks.

While development of the Norfolk train service is moving down the track, the state has yet to identify funds to support its operation. With federal passenger rail subsidies ending, the Department of Rail and Public Transportation estimates that the state may need to provide an average of more than $6 million a year for the first five years of Norfolk service.

DRPT's director, Thelma Drake, however, said she's optimistic it will mirror the success of the Lynchburg service launched two years ago, which has attracted double the projected riders and has yet to draw on the state operating subsidy.

Amtrak trains throughout the United States operate with public subsidies because they're not self-sustaining.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com