ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The parent agencies of Virginia Railway Express have approved a $155 million agreement to help purchase the commuter operator’s Manassas Line from Norfolk Southern.

The nonprofit news site Virginia Mercury reports the boards of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Potomac and Rappahannock River Transportation Commission approved the agreement in separate meetings on Thursday, March 6. The deal calls for six equal payments to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, the last of which is projected for July 10, 2029.

VRPA negotiated purchase of the line from Alexandria to Bristow, Va., last summer as part of a $599 million deal, including the VRE contribution [see “Virginia, Norfolk Southern greenlight …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 28, 2024. VRE will control and dispatch approximately 24 miles of track. That deal also rescinded an earlier agreement to purchase 28 miles between Roanoke and the New River Valley, and included a deal to allow passenger trains to operate over a former Norfolk & Western line to Christiansburg, Va.

The route is used by eight weekday VRE round trips as well as three Amtrak round trips — two to Roanoke, Va., and the New York-New Orleans Crescent.

“This is a long-term investment towards the future,” said Sarah Bagley, vice chair of the Northern Virginia board and chair of the VRE operations board, at Thursday’s meeting. Both agencies characterized the purchase as critical to VRE operations present and future.

The purchase also includes Alexandria’s Seminary Yard, where VRE will construct a midday layover facility.

“The property acquisition piece of this was not something that we had maybe contemplated a couple of years ago,” VRE Chief Financial Officer Mark Schofield told the Mercury, “but we are making a very positive trade in terms of the cost of the midday storage yard.”