Item 447.10 of Chapter 552 of the 2021 Special Session I Acts of Assembly directed the Secretary of Transportation to “provide an assessment of both the total project costs and incremental costs resulting from…modeling conducted to assess any infrastructure or network costs needed to service a rail station in Bedford, Virginia." To fulfill this requirement, the Commonwealth and Norfolk Southern Railway (NSR) agreed to assess the track and signal improvements needed for Amtrak to provide service to the Bedford community.

Since October 2017, Amtrak has operated daily state-sponsored round-trip service originating in Roanoke. This service travels north through the Commonwealth on NSR trackage with stops in Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Culpeper, Manassas, Burke Center, and Alexandria before proceeding to Washington, DC and cities in the Northeast Corridor. In 2022, a second daily round trip service will originate in Roanoke.

Due to the success of the service both in Lynchburg and Roanoke, community leaders in the Bedford/Franklin County region have advocated for an Amtrak passenger rail stop in the Town of Bedford, which is located along the route. The Commonwealth and NSR have agreed to assess the track and signal improvements needed for Amtrak to provide service to the Bedford/Franklin County region as a part of the Commonwealth’s partnership with NSR to advance the Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative.

NSR performed Rail Traffic Control (“RTC") modeling to determine the anticipated infrastructure (including communication and signaling) necessary and reasonable to address the anticipated adverse effects on future freight and intercity passenger service by the addition of the proposed Bedford Amtrak stop, assuming the prior addition of a second round trip Amtrak service.