Richmond VA Parking Lot Expansion Update

[Anderson]

This pertains to the long-running comic relief that has been the parking lot at RVR. Upon passing through the station Saturday night (I was on the Meteor) I saw a pair of banners announcing coming improvements:
-The Acca Yard bypass has finally been agreed-upon. For reasons that leave me a little stumped it goes on the west side of the yard (so either the Newport News trains can't use it or they'll have to cross all the way over) but this may just be where the space is available. Estimated completion is "Winter 2018", which probably means the end of 2018 (though it could just as easily be Jan/Feb 2018).

-A major overhaul of the parking lot was on the other banner. For those traveling out of RVR, parking was pretty reliably problematic, and problems with finding spaces at key times of the day was very likely costing the state a couple thousand riders per year (bear in mind a 1% hit to ridership at RVR is still over 3,000 riders) due to "never again" effects and the like. There was a period of a year or so where this caused some very real problems, and the expansion is supposed to double the size of the lots.

There's already some work going on to the north of the present lot (the project is a three-phase mess because they have to keep the present lot fully functional while adding lots of spaces) and projected completion is "Winter 2017" (so I'm presuming a year or so on this project). For those who've followed the saga, this was tied up for a few years while an inter-agency presentation of kabuki theater played out: Basically, the "wrong" agency bought the lots for the new parking spaces and what should have been simple turned into an arcane fight over dividing costs and revenues (remember, a 500-space lot at $6/day can in theory generate over $1m/yr...and at RVR I'd say it would easily generate close to $750k/yr, especially if more trains start getting added).

Sadly there's no plan to improve the station yet, but there's an ongoing process to sort that out. The fact that this went through says to me that they're probably going to be "locked in" to using RVR as one of the stations for Richmond for the foreseeable future, too, which eliminates a lot of odd-and-end alternatives in a few places.

 

[neroden]

I hope there's some kind of formal agreement in place for the new Acca Yard Bypass, because they already built an Acca Yard Bypass once and CSX stole it for freight traffic.

 

[afigg]

-The Acca Yard bypass has finally been agreed-upon. For reasons that leave me a little stumped it goes on the west side of the yard (so either the Newport News trains can't use it or they'll have to cross all the way over) but this may just be where the space is available. Estimated completion is "Winter 2018", which probably means the end of 2018 (though it could just as easily be Jan/Feb 2018).

....

Sadly there's no plan to improve the station yet, but there's an ongoing process to sort that out. The fact that this went through says to me that they're probably going to be "locked in" to using RVR as one of the stations for Richmond for the foreseeable future, too, which eliminates a lot of odd-and-end alternatives in a few places.

The last news article I recall reading on the Acca Yard Bypass indicated that it was expected to be complete by early 2018. It is possible that there has been a schedule slip, but I interpret Winter 2018 as by March 1 or 21, 2018. A recent post on here indicated that a short service interruption was due to CSX cutting in a crossover for the Carson to Reams second main track segment, so that double tracking segment may be done soon, if not already.

BTW, the VDRPT Major rail initiative listing/description for the Acca Yard project.

As for the Staples Mill station, there were plans or proposals to build a new suburban Richmond station north of RVR with better highway access and a bigger station. Has that idea been dropped entirely or is it still on the books, but as a "someday" replacement?

 

[Palmland]

-The Acca Yard bypass has finally been agreed-upon. For reasons that leave me a little stumped it goes on the west side of the yard (so either the Newport News trains can't use it or they'll have to cross all the way over) but this may just be where the space is available. Estimated completion is "Winter 2018", which probably means the end of 2018 (though it could just as easily be Jan/Feb 2018).

....

Sadly there's no plan to improve the station yet, but there's an ongoing process to sort that out. The fact that this went through says to me that they're probably going to be "locked in" to using RVR as one of the stations for Richmond for the foreseeable future, too, which eliminates a lot of odd-and-end alternatives in a few places.

The last news article I recall reading on the Acca Yard Bypass indicated that it was expected to be complete by early 2018. It is possible that there has been a schedule slip, but I interpret Winter 2018 as by March 1 or 21, 2018. A recent post on here indicated that a short service interruption was due to CSX cutting in a crossover for the Carson to Reams second main track segment, so that double tracking segment may be done soon, if not already.
BTW, the VDRPT Major rail initiative listing/description for the Acca Yard project.

As for the Staples Mill station, there were plans or proposals to build a new suburban Richmond station north of RVR with better highway access and a bigger station. Has that idea been dropped entirely or is it still on the books, but as a "someday" replacement?

Waiting for the Palmetto on a recent trip at Staples Mill, they were ballasting the new track that extended the station (inside) track north, maybe a mile, to the new crossover and signals mentioned above. According to a signal supervisor I spoke with, it will allow passenger trains to get into the station without affecting freight train entry into Acca yard (or the reverse). Both passenger and freight benefit. Grading was going on south of the station on the west side that, I suspect, will be an extension of that station track and continue to a connection with the existing passenger bypass. It sounds to me that the 'new' bypass is just an extension of the current one. I don't see how it is physically possible to install a new bypass west of the current one. I can't imagine a bypass of the bypass. And, as also mentioned above, this improvement won't help the trains headed to Main St. station as they will still have cross over the south end of Acca to get to the line to Main St. station that is east of the yard.
There is a new parking area south of the station parking lot on the site of a former restaurant. It is well used but perhaps not officially open. A lot of work equipment was on an area north of the station parking lot that may be additional parking too. It's used now for staging equipment for the track work (or was in October).

As to a new station north of Staples Mill, that's probably Ashland. It has generated a lot of controversy because of its impact on that small town and its already crowded main drag from I-95 as well as encroaching on the college and businesses on either side of the tracks through town. Recently Virginia DOT held a meeting in Ashland with local community leaders and the college. A modified plan was presented and also opposed. It would seem to me a green field location south of town would have better interstate access and be less expensive and disruptive. But, as a RMC graduate, I'm clearly biased. However it is mentioned on the VDOT website that a new station in Richmond might be near the old Broad St station (Boulevard and Broad) - but that is clearly a long way off and would require solving the puzzle of crossing over to the east side of the yard. Most likely something that would happen when the HSR project is realized and trains south of Richmond again use the route through Main st. station.

 

[Anderson]

No, the "new" station project was a mooted one a few blocks north. That project, I am reliably informed, is as dead as a doornail. At present the main alternatives for station locations are:
-Staples Mill

-Boulevard

-Broad Street

-Main Street

IIRC the study work showed a possible 12-16 alternatives involving one or two of the above (depending on a few service pattern variations, depending on whether the S-line or A-line gets used primarily).

For the record, my preferred options would be RVM/Broad Street or RVM/Boulevard, but those weren't on the list. RVM/RVR is a workable combination even if RVR needs serious work in the longer run (presuming that we're adding 4-8 through trains per day at a minimum).

 

[neroden]

-The Acca Yard bypass has finally been agreed-upon. For reasons that leave me a little stumped it goes on the west side of the yard (so either the Newport News trains can't use it or they'll have to cross all the way over) but this may just be where the space is available. Estimated completion is "Winter 2018", which probably means the end of 2018 (though it could just as easily be Jan/Feb 2018).

....

Sadly there's no plan to improve the station yet, but there's an ongoing process to sort that out. The fact that this went through says to me that they're probably going to be "locked in" to using RVR as one of the stations for Richmond for the foreseeable future, too, which eliminates a lot of odd-and-end alternatives in a few places.

The last news article I recall reading on the Acca Yard Bypass indicated that it was expected to be complete by early 2018. It is possible that there has been a schedule slip, but I interpret Winter 2018 as by March 1 or 21, 2018. A recent post on here indicated that a short service interruption was due to CSX cutting in a crossover for the Carson to Reams second main track segment, so that double tracking segment may be done soon, if not already.
BTW, the VDRPT Major rail initiative listing/description for the Acca Yard project.

As for the Staples Mill station, there were plans or proposals to build a new suburban Richmond station north of RVR with better highway access and a bigger station. Has that idea been dropped entirely or is it still on the books, but as a "someday" replacement?

Waiting for the Palmetto on a recent trip at Staples Mill, they were ballasting the new track that extended the station (inside) track north, maybe a mile, to the new crossover and signals mentioned above. According to a signal supervisor I spoke with, it will allow passenger trains to get into the station without affecting freight train entry into Acca yard (or the reverse). Both passenger and freight benefit. Grading was going on south of the station on the west side that, I suspect, will be an extension of that station track and continue to a connection with the existing passenger bypass. It sounds to me that the 'new' bypass is just an extension of the current one. I don't see how it is physically possible to install a new bypass west of the current one. I can't imagine a bypass of the bypass. And, as also mentioned above, this improvement won't help the trains headed to Main St. station as they will still have cross over the south end of Acca to get to the line to Main St. station that is east of the yard.

There is already a third track on the west side from Staples Mill all the way south to the (original?) bypass track which runs around the west side of Acca yard proper all the way to the expressway overpass. The only freight which has to cross this is for CSX Bryan Park shops and a couple of local industries. There's already a bypass track on the west side of Bryan Park shops too, but it looks disconnected; maybe they're connecting this one? That would be kind of slow for passengers, though, really twisty.

Given that the long term plan is to send all the passenger trains through Richmond Main Street, an east side bypass is what's needed, but oh well...

Apart from extending the station track north, I have no idea what this new second bypass trakc is