Newport News, VA | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | 9304
Warwick Boulevard
Newport News, Virginia United States | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 37°01′22″N 76°27′07″W / 37.0228°N 76.4519°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | Amtrak, CSX and Newport News Parking Authority | ||||||||||
Line(s) | CSX Peninsula Subdivision | ||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||
Tracks | 1 | ||||||||||
Connections |
Amtrak Thruway Hampton Roads Transit: 106, 107 | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Parking | Yes | ||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Station code | Amtrak: NPN | ||||||||||
IATA code | ZWW | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | October 1981 (current station) | ||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||
FY 2022 | 70,645 [1] (Amtrak) | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
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Newport News station is an Amtrak inter-city train station in Newport News, Virginia. The station is the southern terminus of two daily Northeast Regional round trips. It has a single side platform adjacent to a large CSX rail yard. An Amtrak Thruway motorcoach connection to Norfolk station effectively doubles the frequency between each station and Washington.
A replacement station near Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport is under construction, with opening expected in April 2024. A second station in downtown Newport News is also proposed.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) under Collis Potter Huntington completed the Peninsula Extension to the small town of Newport News in 1881. This allowed the C&O to transport West Virginia coal to Hampton Roads – the largest warm-water port on the East Coast – and directly compete with the Norfolk and Western Railway. Between the coal exports and Huntington's Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News soon became a major shipping and industrial area. [2]
Ferry service between Norfolk and Newport News began in 1883, though the first passenger train station at Newport News was not built until 1892. [3] The multi-story brick structure, Victorian with a large clock tower, [4] was built on the waterfront at 23rd Street. A train shed stretched onto a pier so that passengers could transfer directly between trains and ferries. [2]
By the 1930s, the station was in poor shape, having settled significantly due to the soft soil. It was demolished in 1940 and replaced with a smaller two-story brick station. [3] The new station was constructed on a concrete base 1 foot (0.30 m) above the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane flood level, and its pilings were driven 90 feet (27 m) underground to prevent settling. [3]
Between 1953 and 1954, the C&O stopped using Phoebus, Virginia to the east as the terminus of its Norfolk/Hampton Roads area passenger trains. The company shifted that terminus, by then being for the George Washington and other passenger trains, to Newport News station. [5] [6]
When Amtrak took over intercity passenger service in the United States on May 1, 1971, the C&O had served Newport News with three daily round trips: the Newport News sections of the George Washington and Fast Flying Virginian/ Sportsman, plus a Newport News- Richmond trip. [7]
Amtrak kept only one daily round trip to Newport News – a section of the Newport News- Cincinnati George Washington. It was combined with the James Whitcomb Riley on July 12, 1971, to provide through service to Chicago. [8]: 38 The George Washington name was used for the eastbound section until May 19, 1974. [8]: 41 On June 14, 1976, the Newport News section of the Riley was replaced with the Washington-Newport News Colonial. [2]
Ferry service had been replaced by buses through the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel upon its 1957 opening, making the waterfront location less desirable for a train station. The station was moved to its current location along the CSX line in October 1981. The 1940-built station remains standing and now serves as a restaurant. [3]
Service was reduced to one daily round trip from 2020 to July 11, 2022. [9]
The current facility was planned to be replaced with two new stations—a large intermodal station near the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport and a smaller station in downtown Newport News. The city planned to begin design work for the larger station in the summer of 2011, for an opening sometime before 2016. [10] Construction for the new intermodal station near the airport began in July 2020. The project will cost $47 million and was originally expected to be completed by the summer of 2022. [11] The station is planned to open May or June 2024. [12]
A third Northeast Regional weekday round trip is planned, as of 2020, under a major spending initiative by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. [13]