Amtrak has announced that more people are travelling by train, and record numbers of passengers are stopping in the states of Virginia and North Carolina.

Last year, the top five stations in the Southeast were all in those states, with Staples Mill Road Station in Richmond, Va., Alexandria, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Norfolk, Va., and Raleigh, N.C. topping the list.

Amtrak Virginia, which is supported by the state of Virginia, has 12 daily train services from Richmond station to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, New York, and Boston. Other Amtrak services also operate to Raleigh, Charlotte, Savannah, Ga., and other cities down to Miami.

In North Carolina, daily round trips between Raleigh, Charlotte, and points in between are made possible by the Piedmont and Carolinian services which run daily from New York to Charlotte and stop at the Staples Mill Road Station in Richmond, Va. Both services are sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and operated by Amtrak.

Ray Lang, Amtrak Vice President, said. “The tremendous growth in ridership is a result of the substantial investments North Carolina and Virginia are making to expand and improve passenger rail. Customers are taking advantage of a sustainable way to travel to the many destinations our network offers.”

DJ Stadtler, Executive Director of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA) which oversees the Commonwealth’s Amtrak Virginia service, said “Richmond is not just the capital of Virginia, it’s the epicentre of the East, connecting the Southeast and the Northeast by rail.

“All three of these stations Richmond-Staples Mill, Alexandria, and Norfolk offer Virginians access to rail service connecting the Commonwealth with the rest of the East Coast.”

Jason Orthner, NCDOT’s Rail Division Director, said “The growth we’ve seen in ridership in 2022 and 2023 is unprecedented. Continuing to work in partnership with Amtrak and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority to increase connections and decrease travel time between destinations in the South and the Northeast is a priority to increase and enhance NC By Train service in North Carolina and beyond.”