It’s been more than 70 years since Harrisonburg had passenger rail service. You probably know that only Staunton (and Charlottesville) have rail stations with Amtrak service, and that no other Shenandoah Valley city or town or county north of Staunton has train service. What is available is pretty limited, and using rail to travel to and from most of the Shenandoah Valley is either very difficult, very slow, or impossible.
Regardless of why this is so, you may be as frustrated as I am at always having to drive a vehicle on crowded highways to get just about anywhere north, south, east or west of the Valley. You may be pleased, as I am, to know that we’ve got a chance, if enough of us act quickly, to tell the Department of Rail and Public Transportation that we want the Shenandoah Valley included in their soon-to-be-issued 2026 Statewide Rail Plan.
Chances are you’ve never heard of either the DRPT or its plan. Neither had it until about 10 days ago. But that’s OK.
You can learn about DRPT by checking out drpt.virginia.gov and learn more about the rail plan at drpt.virginia.gov/studies-and-reports/virginia-statewide-rail-plan.
If you do, you’ll see that they’ve been working on this plan for a while and are now in the process of getting input from interested Virginians. But the time to tell them you want to see our Valley included in this plan is growing short.
They’re having a public, virtual meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. You can register here to attend. You can also make public comments to the DRPT before that meeting or through Sept. 30 at the bottom of this link.
And, very quickly you can also sign a petition to the DRPT, developed by a recently formed non-profit, Blue Ridge Rail. This small group isn’t asking for money, just a bit of your time and your voice. Why? Because if enough of we Valley residents don’t speak up and say, loudly, that we want to be in the 2026 Statewide Rail Plan, we’ll likely be left out again, and there will be no momentum for us to have more and better passenger rail service for many, many years.
Blue Ridge Rail will send the petition to the DRPT on Sept. 21.
FYI, the young man who established Blue Ridge Rail (in July), when he found out about what DRPT is doing, said his purpose is so those of us who live in the Valley north of Staunton could have clean, affordable and reliable public transportation to DC, Richmond and beyond.
He was raised in the Valley and is now working in the public transportation sector in NoVa. As he described it, his effort is a local, grassroots initiative to persuade the state to plan for bringing passenger rail to Harrisonburg.
His first step was to get 500 signatures on the petition, and he did it. But the impact would be more dramatic if we could help him double that number. So, tell your family, friends, congregants, and coworkers.
Listening during his presentation at the main Harrisonburg Library on Aug. 30, I learned several important things about this petition effort. You can find information on Blue Ridge Rail’s website.
Here are my big takeaways, and why I signed the petition, wrote this commentary, will be joining the Sept. 8 meeting, and will write to the DRPT Board before Sept. 30:
- This plan will guide Virginia transportation priorities for the next 20 years.
- There are several route options for passenger rail, and Blue Ridge Rail is not favoring or proposing one. Nor is it advocating for any option that would interfere with the Shenandoah Rail (Bike and Walking) Trail.
- Reliable passenger rail will boost the entire Valley’s economy and tourism.
- There is some funding already.
- It would be so wonderful to be able to take a train to visit friends and family who live north, south, east, and west of Bridgewater. And my kids and grandkids could come see me.
- If we’re left out of this plan, we will likely lose out on any chance for the next 20 years.
One last thing to check out if you’re so inclined, even if you don’t live in Harrisonburg (I don’t): The Friendly City Urbanist’s “What would it take to bring passenger rail service back to Harrisonburg?”
Share
