RALEIGH, N.C. — The planned S-Line passenger rail link between Raleigh, N.C., and Richmond, Virginia, moved a step closer Thursday as federal transportation officials committed $550 million to the state for the work.
The money is not a new grant. It is roughly half of the $1.09 billion federal award the project won in December 2023, now formally obligated by the Federal Railroad Administration to the state Transportation Department.
Gov. Josh Stein joined the state’s top transportation official, Daniel Johnson, and federal railroad chief David Fink to mark the announcement at a Durant Road work site in North Raleigh, where crews are already building the opening stretch of the line, which runs from Raleigh up to Wake Forest. The Raleigh award is one slice of a $5.3 billion national rail package from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
The full project would rebuild about 162 miles of former Seaboard Air Line corridor, now tied to CSX freight service. State planners say trains could reach 110 mph between Raleigh and Petersburg, Virginia, and trips between Raleigh and Richmond could be up to 90 minutes shorter. Upgrades should also leave room for more frequent freight and passenger trains while easing crowding on the rail lines already in use, and both states have been buying pieces of the old route.
Ridership on the state-backed NC By Train service hit nearly 740,000 passengers in 2025, a record and 59% above 2019.
Raleigh Union Station downtown already handles Amtrak Piedmont and Carolinian trains to Charlotte and New York City, and the S-Line is meant to give those riders a faster path north.
Section: More Raleigh NC crime news
Filed under: Raleigh NC Traffic News
