Virginia’s ‘Long Bridge’ project to require five-hour midday work window (updated)

WASHINGTON — Starting early next January, no freight or passenger trains will be scheduled to cross the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va., during an 8:15 a.m.-to-1 p.m. window seven days a week for up to five years. This will accommodate construction on a $2.3 billion, four-track bridge being built to replace the existing double-track “Long Bridge” dating to 1904.

During an Oct. 10 “Construction Service Changes” town hall webinar sponsored by Virginians for High Speed Rail, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority Executive Director DJ Stadtler revealed that plan, as well as other improvements his operating agency is overseeing in the state. A video of the webinar is posted on the advocacy group’s website

Stadtler said details of exactly how trains will be rescheduled await final approval in the next few weeks from Amtrak, CSX, and commuter operator Virginia Railway Express, but Stadtler shared the reasoning behind the plan.

Positioning a new, passenger-only two-track bridge immediately adjacent to the existing structure and duplicating today’s right-of-way on the D.C. side “makes it very difficult to do work on the new bridge while trains are running,” says Stadtler. The VPRA has provided the video below showing how closely the new bridge parallels the current structure. The new bridge is depicted at one point in the video as only having two tracks.

In an email to Trains.com, Stadler further clarifies, “We are adding a brand-new structure that will carry two passenger tracks, and then a separate structure, which will be a pedestrian bike bridge, which is required as part of the environmental mitigation process.

“The two structures become one north of the river just before Washington channel. However, as the new tracks continue north into DC, they will combine and become one structure .That’s where it becomes more challenging to do any work without fouling track.” Stadler says CSX has a separate project where the railroad is doing regular maintenance on the existing river bridge. “Further north as you cross I-395, the Washington channel and Maine Avenue, we will be creating a new structure that carries all four tracks,” he writes.

A municipal dictate requires all activity between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The stakeholders first looked at two three-hour periods to avoid the commuter rush but settled on one five-hour window, which meant construction crews would prepare and exit work areas only once per day. Reducing the operating outage to four hours was also considered, but was estimated to add $300 million and six months to the project.

Meeting host Daniel Plaugher, Virginians for High Speed Rail’s executive director, likens the VPRA Long Bridge replacement to disruptions caused during kitchen remodeling. “If the contractors have to work around a table in the middle of the room and take tools away every night, a three-month renovation could become six. Rail construction is no different,” Plaugher says

Skirting the work window

On the surface, a daily five-hour outage lasting years on a vital artery handling two commuter routes, Amtrak service to and from multiple destinations, and CSX freight traffic seems like a certain death blow to patronage. But further examination shows why this was the preferred solution.

A Trains.com analysis of existing schedules shows remarkably few regional trains are affected by the 8:15 a.m-1 p.m. window. They include:

— Two inbound VRE trains from Manassas (no scheduled outbound moves).

— Two inbound VRE trains from Fredericksburg (no scheduled outbound moves).

— Three inbound Amtrak Northeast Regional trains from Newport News, Norfolk, and Roanoke (Nos. 174, 84, and 134 scheduled at 9:18, 10:22, and 11:06 a.m., respectively, at Alexandria).

— Two outbound Northeast Regionals to Roanoke and Norfolk that will need minimal schedule adjustment (Nos.151 and 141, departing Washington at 8:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.)

Inbound Amtrak trains from outside the region arrive on the fringes of the pause (Silver Meteor from Miami and Crescent from New Orleans make Alexandria stops at 6:54 a.m. and 1:19 p.m.) but the rescheduling challenge is much more acute for three long-distance Amtrak trains departing Washington:

— The Palmetto (No. 89) to Savannah, Ga., at 10:18 a.m.

— The Cardinal (No. 51) to Chicago, at 11:19 a.m. (Sun-Wed-Fri).

— The Carolinian (No. 79) to Charlotte, N.C., at 11:26 a.m.

Any adjustment will not only significantly alter crew and equipment turns along each route but cascade into changes for the inbound counterpart. For example, delaying the Cardinal’s departure from New York by two hours would push its departure out of Cincinnati from 1:41 a.m. to 3:41 a.m. and reduce equipment servicing time at Chicago by two hours — if the train is on time. A three-hour earlier start would mean a 3 a.m. New York departure.

What has been already decided, Stadtler says, is that the four affected inbound VRE trains will terminate at Alexandria, with passengers transferring to the adjacent D.C. Metrorail Blue and Yellow lines at King Street Station. The same number of outbounds will originate in Alexandria in the afternoon.

This arrangement was not possible for the state-sponsored Amtrak regional trains, according to Stadler, because Amtrak says it lacks the necessary cab cars for push-pull operation. The Newport News and Roanoke inbounds will be rescheduled, and one Norfolk train will be replaced by two express buses to Washington Union Station originating at Virginia Beach and only picking up passengers at Norfolk and Newport News. A report from WAVY-TV further explains how the substitute bus service will work.

Stadler, who worked 12 years in Amtrak operating and executive leadership roles, also notes that VRE passengers will again be able to purchase “step-up” passes that will allow rides on any Amtrak train during the outage. There will inevitably be holiday period or special event instances where construction will be suspended, and future schedules will probably be adjusted based on customer preferences. He also says there will likely be concessions, such as if a late northbound Silver Meteor shows up at 8:45 a.m., “and we say ‘sorry, you have to wait until 1 p.m.,’ I don’t think that ends well for anybody. Our hope is that this is the exception rather than the rule.”

When exact schedules are confirmed in the next few weeks, details will be posted on VRPA’s website. Current VRE schedules for its Fredericksburg line are here, and for the Manassas line are here.

The fact that a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar project of this magnitude is moving forward at all is because the state’s rail authority, restructured in 2020, is an independent political subdivision with a dedicated funding stream, impervious to political changes in the governor’s mansion or legislature. “This was a way to put stability into what we are doing,” Stadtler says, “because our first two rail capacity expansion phases [on the Washington-Richmond corridor] were fully funded. Construction companies know the money is there, so that allows them to de-risk their quotes a bit, saving us some money.”

When the bridge and all other improvements are completed, Virginia will be able to resume the momentum that has led to a 160% increase in ridership since 2019 and now registers a cost recover of 76%, “which for public transportation is just tremendous,” Stadler says. “We are comfortable that we can run the trains through the construction period, and be ready for 2030.”

— Updated Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m. CT with link to webinar, additional comment from VPRA Executive Director DJ Stadtler.