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State and local officials, alongside other stakeholders, such as representatives of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority and Norfolk Southern Corp., formally broke ground on the site during a ceremony Thursday.

Service from the new station, located at the historic Cambria Yard, is expected to start in 2027 — a year earlier than what was initially thought.

“What is really exciting is to see this community broadly engaged in this project,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said. “Hundreds and hundreds of people for a long time, have had their eyes on how to get this done, and that is what it takes sometimes to move a mountain.”

The project will include a platform with a canopy, a parking lot, access roads, an Amtrak layover facility in Radford, a Norfolk Southern maintenance facility, track improvements and an updated signaling system, according to The Cambria project, combined with the Radford layover facility and improvements to the 166su Yard, will cost $264.5 million.

Additionally, the historic Christiansburg station built in 1906 will be renovated and serve as the new passenger station. These renovations will take place in 2027 after service has begun, according to the VPRA website. The building is a short way up the tracks from the older, privately owned station building located at the intersection of Depot Street and the railroad tracks.

The one built in 1906 functioned as the passenger station until passenger rail service ceased in Christiansburg in 1979. More recently, it has served as a maintenance shop for Norfolk Southern employees.

“I can think of no more meaningful place to break ground than right here in historic Cambria, where the old meets the new, and where our town’s history as a rail community is coming full circle,” Michael Barber, mayor of Christiansburg and chair of the New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority, said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., secured $2 million in federal funding to support rail extensions and repairs throughout Virginia in 2023. On Thursday, he compared it to the children’s book “The Little Engine That Could.”

“It’s a long hill to climb from 166su to Christiansburg,” Kaine said. “This is an ‘I think I can’ project, and it’s so exciting to be here to celebrate it.”

Bringing the passenger rail system to the New River Valley is a step in expanding the service across Virginia. There are ongoing discussions of bringing the railway to Bristol, but Kaine said that “excitement and cooperation” from their colleagues in Tennessee will be essential to its success.

“The trip to Bristol is going to require collaboration with Tennessee, but it’s on the drawing board and that’s something that I’m hoping we have a chance to really bring to fruition,” Youngkin said.

Additionally, the next administration will have to pick up where he leaves off and keep pushing for the expansion, he said.

In addition to being an exciting day for many, it was also an emotional day for some. U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, became involved in the New River Valley rail project through his college roommate, Wally Nelson. Nelson, who died in 2022, “spearheaded the effort to bring passenger rail service to the NRV,” according to

“He did get me involved, and I will always be appreciative because he was right, and appreciative of his wife Heather, who’s with us today,” he said.

Several other locations for the station were considered over the years, including one at the New River Valley Mall and another on Cinnabar Road. Griffith said he’s excited that the historic train station in Cambria was ultimately chosen.

“I think we’re going to have a gorgeous station,” he said. “We’re going to have a piece of history, and we’re going to have a look into the soul of this region when passengers get off at this station.”