ALEXANDRIA, Va., —聽The new Spotsylvania station on Virginia Railway Express鈥� Fredericksburg Line that was originally planned聽 is now slated to open by the end of the year.
Bryan Jungwirth, director of public affairs and government relations for VRE, says VRE hopes to have an exact opening date within the next month.
鈥淲e realize it鈥檚 been a long, arduous road to get there, but the end is near,鈥� he tells 小萝莉影视.
鈥淚 can tell you: by the end of the year 鈥� we will have that station open by the end of the year 鈥� I feel comfortable saying that. I don鈥檛 want to go any further than that at this point,鈥� he says.
Some of the initial delays were tied to issues of eminent domain that continue聽even as construction nears completion.
Jungwirth says that recent聽design changes and weather delays have caused the project to slip from an opening that was expected by summer.
鈥淚t looks nearly ready,鈥� he says.
鈥淭he parking lot is fully paved and the striping is just about being finalized, but we鈥檙e waiting on some electrical work and some communication work that needs to be equipped at the station before we can actually announce an opening date,鈥� he adds.
The electrical work includes some pieces from a factory in South Carolina; the聽communications work regards聽ticket vending machines, security cameras and passenger information screens, which聽Verizon can now come in and complete since other pieces are in.
The new station, with a 1,500-space parking lot, is at the new Crossroads Station development, along the U.S. 17 Bypass about six miles south of the Fredericksburg station. The station is about three miles east of Interstate 95.
鈥淭hat will be the southernmost terminus of the Fredericksburg Line for VRE and, according to our operations board, at least for the foreseeable future, will not go any farther south than that,鈥� Jungwirth says.
The line, which聽carries about 5,000 people each day (around 10,000 total trips), will still be called the Fredericksburg Line.
VRE鈥檚 next expansion plans are to the west on the Manassas Line, where the latest round of studies are just getting underway regarding an extension to Gainesville or Haymarket. That extension is likely five to 10聽years away.
Jungwirth says an聽additional train will聽be added to the Fredericksburg Line “at some point” after聽the Spotsylvania station opens.
In addition to delays in construction of the station, there have been delays in construction of a third track in the area that is being added in conjunction with the project after a contractor was ordered to stop work over safety violations.
Work on that third track has resumed.
