Nearby Location Could be a Stop Along High Speed Train Route

LACROSSE – While flying to locations remains the fastest overall way to cover long distances, a new fast paced possibility looks like it will be headed to the area in the future.

Virginia has won a $165 million federal grant to unlock what it calls the “Atlantic Gateway” to speed passenger rail, freight trains and highway vehicles through one of the most congested corridors on the East Coast.

The FASTLANE grant will combine with $565 million in private investment by Transurban and CSX Transportation, as well as $710 million in state transportation funds, to carry out some of the biggest projects on the state’s transportation wish list in a package worth $1.4 billion.

There is a plan to have a high speed passenger train rail that would run from Boston to Atlanta. The rail would also run down through Virginia from Washington DC to Raleigh NC with a stop off in nearby LaCrosse, just outside of South Hill.

Even with this grant announcement, funding remains a major issue as the portion of the project to link Virginia and North Carolina alone is projected to be around $4 billion. This would include upgrades to existing tracks, signals and other equipment in place as well as new rails.

The high speed trains travel in excess of 100 mph between stop locations and could make for a faster and efficient way to move up and down the east coast.