The Virginia Railway Express and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 1 to celebrate the completion of a $27.5 million improvement project at the Quantico train station.
The project is designed to improve safety, service, and rail capacity on VPRA’s Amtrak Virginia state-supported service and VRE’s Fredericksburg Line.
The project includes the construction of a pedestrian bridge, which replaces an at-grade crossing, a center platform, and an extension of an existing platform. Amtrak also serves the station, which now has three boardable platform edges. The rehabilitation of the 1953 station house includes fresh paint, modern furnishings and new display screens.
The Quantico station improvements are part of a larger VPRA project, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Commonwealth of Virginia and constructed by CSX Transportation. The project adds 9.2 miles of a third mainline track between the Arkendale and North Possum Point control points.
Officials said adding this third track will improve Amtrak and VRE trains’ performance. More rail capacity allows faster passenger trains to pass trains at lower speeds.
The $101.4 million Arkendale project is part of VPRA’s Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative to expand passenger rail service in the Commonwealth.
VRE’s Quantico station construction partners include CSX, Archer & Western, Dewberry, HDR, STV, and U.S. Facilities, Inc. Its three jurisdictional partners are the Town of Quantico, Prince William County, and Marine Corps Base Quantico.
VPRA’s partner on the third track project is CSX.
