Acca Yard Richmond, VA

It’s good when travel time will be saved between RVR and RVM. Btw, the RVR station is very important, in addition to RVM, because of its easy access to highways and main roads on the west side of the Richmond City limits.

If Richmond decides it needs commuter rail, Atlee Station would be a good stop. Had Amtrak been forced into using the ex-C&O as the only way of circumventing Acca, I imagine they would have considered a suburban station there too. But, best not to reinvent the wheel when there’s a good, well-used station at RVR.

The RVR station is probably the busiest station in VA outside of DC. There are probably a lot of offices very close to the station that have employees who commute a few times a week from the DC area to meetings near the RVR station.

Don't think so--not according to Google Maps, at least.

Rockingham Racer wrote:Don't think so--not according to Google Maps, at least.

If we're talking office workers, Richmond corporate space is weighted heavily to the west end, where RVR happens to be. Downtown has come back, but the big office parks are 15-20 minutes out west of RVR, and the Altria HQ (formerly Alcoa, Reynolds) is 6 minutes in from RVR. (Driving without traffic of course .)

Big picture, it's ridiculous for a city the size of Richmond to have two stations. Chalk that up to history, and the fact that Richmond has an outsize influence on state funding. The reason for Norfolk and Newport News to each have a station is entirely more reasonable!

Edit: removed off-topic 1970s Amshack pics

I think it is completely reasonable for any metro of 1m or more (Richmond = 1.2m) to have 2 stations:
1) Central Business District "inbound" trips that terminate in the tall building core
2) Beltway Park and Ride for "outbound: trips that originate at leafy suburban homes

That's what we see at
WAS + NCR
BAL + BWI
BOS/BBY + RTE

And are provisioned for at
PVD + TFG (airport)

And pretty close at
RVM + RVR
Except I'd say that in the long run you want your "beltway park and ride" to be more of a reverse commute (not caught in the "inbound" AM road rush), which is why I said "Glen Allen" on I-295)

Later, you'd do a commuter service overlay on top of the Regionals (picture DMUs)
Ashland I-95
Glen Allen I-295
RVR
Scott's Addition
RVM
Shockhoe Bottom West
RIC Airport

Just drove over Acca on I-195 outside of Richmond. It’s dark, but I saw an Amtrak train taking the outside bypass tracks. Looks like they are now operational.

KTHW wrote:Just drove over Acca on I-195 outside of Richmond. It’s dark, but I saw an Amtrak train taking the outside bypass tracks. Looks like they are now operational.

I rode down from WAS to RVM about a month a go. The ride through Acca is definitely smoother and quicker (though not fast) than the old route through the middle of the yard. Many fewer opportunities for fouling freight movements, and good views of the CSX MOW base, for what that’s worth. But once you pass the connections to the mainline that swings west of downtown, the remaining trip from Acca to RVM is still achingly slow-over 20 minutes elapsed time from RVR to RVM.

Station Aficionado wrote:

KTHW wrote:Just drove over Acca on I-195 outside of Richmond. It’s dark, but I saw an Amtrak train taking the outside bypass tracks. Looks like they are now operational.

I rode down from WAS to RVM about a month a go. The ride through Acca is definitely smoother and quicker (though not fast) than the old route through the middle of the yard. Many fewer opportunities for fouling freight movements, and good views of the CSX MOW base, for what that’s worth. But once you pass the connections to the mainline that swings west of downtown, the remaining trip from Acca to RVM is still achingly slow-over 20 minutes elapsed time from RVR to RVM.

Are there any plans to do anything about that?

According to the DC to RVA plan, the line from SAY to AM is to be triple tracked and have crossovers at both ends. The S line from there south will be upgraded and rebuilt all the way to Raleigh as part of the Southeast High Speed Rail project.

Station Aficionado wrote:

KTHW wrote:Just drove over Acca on I-195 outside of Richmond. It’s dark, but I saw an Amtrak train taking the outside bypass tracks. Looks like they are now operational.

I rode down from WAS to RVM about a month a go. The ride through Acca is definitely smoother and quicker (though not fast) than the old route through the middle of the yard. Many fewer opportunities for fouling freight movements, and good views of the CSX MOW base, for what that’s worth. But once you pass the connections to the mainline that swings west of downtown, the remaining trip from Acca to RVM is still achingly slow-over 20 minutes elapsed time from RVR to RVM.

The scheduled time between RVR and RVM has not really changed. It's 26-28 minutes min southbound, 25-37 minutes northbound. In 2010 it was 26-32 south and 25-37 north. Back when RVM opened in 2003 it was 27 south and a hopeful 20-30 north. But like you say, the ride must be nicer, and surely more predictable.