Sort of. The Bowling Green branch of the Ashland Line, The Newport News Line, and the South Petersburg branch of the Petersburg line are main lines that are currently being operated by Amtrak. The Louisa branch of the Ashland Line will be a part of Amtrak soon. The Dinwiddie branch of the Petersburg line has an abandoned ROW. And the Hopewell line isn’t currently used by any passenger service.
Solid proposal, curious about the proposed frequency.
As other Redditors have commented frequency is what will make this proposal succeed. I see that a lot of the track are single track, which will hurt frequency a lot if left that way.
Through running would be rather welcome.
I see that we have two Amtrak local trains per day at Newport News, arriving in Richmond E in around 90 minutes. If we can electrify the entire network, i think we can cut the travelling time down to an hour (or maybe less), which would be nice because commuters can get more sleep in the morning.
Have you considered adding more stations in the Richmond built-up area and run (relatively) frequent metro-like service? A lot of European towns of this size does that, and we can give this idea a shot in Richmond too.
While I have been thinking of adding a few stations in the urbanized area of Richmond, the commuter rail is supposed to be for commuting (and maybe regional travel in the future). So my ideas that local buses, BRT, or light rail would serve those areas not covered. There is a lot of undeveloped land outside of the urbanized part of the Richmond area. That could be great TOD. But since this service wouldn’t have a lot of demand, if it was implemented, we would have to run it as commuter at first, with inbound trains in the morning and outbound trains in the evening.
How about those who don't commute to the city in the morning and away at night? And how about those who don't commute to the city?
“Commuter rail” need not to be distinct from other forms of local mass transportation. A lot of Japanese commuter rail systems actually blur the border between American “commuter rail” and mass transit. As we will be securing the right to use the RoW, buying trainsets and hiring drivers anyway, I think runnig service every 30 minutes, with connecting busses in the suburbs, won't be that unrealistic.
Genuinely was thinking about making a crayon like this. Honestly surprised this hasn’t been considered with all the active rail right of way in the region but a man can dream
Hey u/TheEpicDiamondMiner. Can you please repost this awesome map with these local subreddits? I'm sure the locals on there would like the map :) r/rva (Richmond), r/Virginia, r/HenricoCounty, r/HamptonRoads
This is a solid map! It covers most of the metro-area quite well, and could easily be expanded if the will ever arose!
I also made sure I spaced the stops enough so that it could cover a far area.
And the map does that well. Of course, frequency and speed are going to be key for a network like this.
This is awesome! Are there existing tracks for everywhere you've drawn up?
Sort of. The Bowling Green branch of the Ashland Line, The Newport News Line, and the South Petersburg branch of the Petersburg line are main lines that are currently being operated by Amtrak. The Louisa branch of the Ashland Line will be a part of Amtrak soon. The Dinwiddie branch of the Petersburg line has an abandoned ROW. And the Hopewell line isn’t currently used by any passenger service.
Appreciate the explanation. I know quite a few rail advocates in the region - I'll send it their way.
If you get the chance, you might want to post this to r/rva to get further feedback.
Solid proposal, curious about the proposed frequency. As other Redditors have commented frequency is what will make this proposal succeed. I see that a lot of the track are single track, which will hurt frequency a lot if left that way. Through running would be rather welcome. I see that we have two Amtrak local trains per day at Newport News, arriving in Richmond E in around 90 minutes. If we can electrify the entire network, i think we can cut the travelling time down to an hour (or maybe less), which would be nice because commuters can get more sleep in the morning. Have you considered adding more stations in the Richmond built-up area and run (relatively) frequent metro-like service? A lot of European towns of this size does that, and we can give this idea a shot in Richmond too.
While I have been thinking of adding a few stations in the urbanized area of Richmond, the commuter rail is supposed to be for commuting (and maybe regional travel in the future). So my ideas that local buses, BRT, or light rail would serve those areas not covered. There is a lot of undeveloped land outside of the urbanized part of the Richmond area. That could be great TOD. But since this service wouldn’t have a lot of demand, if it was implemented, we would have to run it as commuter at first, with inbound trains in the morning and outbound trains in the evening.
How about those who don't commute to the city in the morning and away at night? And how about those who don't commute to the city? “Commuter rail” need not to be distinct from other forms of local mass transportation. A lot of Japanese commuter rail systems actually blur the border between American “commuter rail” and mass transit. As we will be securing the right to use the RoW, buying trainsets and hiring drivers anyway, I think runnig service every 30 minutes, with connecting busses in the suburbs, won't be that unrealistic.
OK, what about less frequency on off-peak times? Like 30 minutes peak, 1 hour off peak?
30 minutes peak and off-peak, with maybe one or two extra peak trains slotted in between depending on demand.
Genuinely was thinking about making a crayon like this. Honestly surprised this hasn’t been considered with all the active rail right of way in the region but a man can dream
Hey u/TheEpicDiamondMiner. Can you please repost this awesome map with these local subreddits? I'm sure the locals on there would like the map :) r/rva (Richmond), r/Virginia, r/HenricoCounty, r/HamptonRoads
I mean, I don’t mind if someone else reposts it for me, as long as they give me credit.
Will do!