Passenger rail service changes for travelers between the Staples Mill Amtrak Station and Washington, D.C. are being implemented in mid January, to accommodate construction of the Long Bridge Project on the Potomac River.

The Long Bridge Project is a 1.8-mile rail improvement that will relieve what the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority calls one of the biggest rail bottlenecks on the East Coast, causing numerous delays.

“The project is going to construct a number of bridges,” said Gerica Goodman, VPRA director of external affairs. “The first one is the Long Bridge Project that’s going to construct a second rail bridge across the Potomac, and then a series of connecting bridges into D.C. that will double the rail capacity. This is the beginning of the separation of passenger and freight rail lines in D.C. with the Long Bridge project."

The Long Bridge Project will create a continuous four-track corridor. The current Long Bridge is a CSXT owned two-track, century-old bridge that spans the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

As part of the 1.8 mile corridor of improvements, the Long Bridge Project will add a new two-track rail bridge next to the existing CSXT owned rail bridge, separating freight and passenger trains. The flagship project of the state’s Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative to expand rail in the commonwealth also includes two new pedestrian and bicycle bridges .

For Staples Mill station passengers, that will mean that during the Long Bridge Project construction, one daily roundtrip between Washington, D.C. and Main Street Station (that also stops at Staples Mill) will be cancelled.  In addition, one daily roundtrip between Washington, D.C. and Norfolk (that includes a stop at Staples Mill) also will be cancelled.

In addition, one Washington D.C.-to-Norfolk daily roundtrip will be cancelled, according to VPRA Communications Manager Karina Romero.

"There will still be two daily roundtrips between Washington D.C. and Norfolk and two daily roundtrips between Washington, D.C. and Newport News each day," Romero wrote to the Henrico Citizen in an email.  "The two daily round trips from Newport News to D.C. will continue to call on Main Street and Staples Mill Stations.  The two daily round trips from Norfolk will continue to call on Richmond Staples Mill as well [during the construction period]."

During the construction period, trains cannot enter from or leave Washington, D.C. southward between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. So trains that currently are scheduled to arrive and leave Union Station between those times will be shifted earlier or later.

Another change starting in January will be direct bus service between Norfolk/Newport News and Washington, D.C. to accommodate passengers seeking a non-stop ride to D.C.