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City officials are taking steps toward returning passenger rail service to Suffolk after nearly five decades. At a work session on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, the City Council heard details of a new feasibility study on establishing an Amtrak train station in downtown Suffolk. The preliminary study, conducted by the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO), identified several potential station sites and outlined the next steps needed to make a Suffolk stop a reality.

“Many of us, for many, many years, have been dreaming of getting Amtrak to stop in our city as it passes through,” Public Works Director Robert Lewis told council members, recalling childhood train rides from Suffolk to Petersburg. “As a child, I had the opportunity to ride the train from here to Petersburg and back – really, really cool experience”. City leaders have now set aside funding in the new fiscal year budget (beginning July 1) to study the idea formally.

Lewis explained that to secure an Amtrak stop, Suffolk must first complete two federally required analyses.

“The first of those is a ridership and revenue study. We have to… prove that there’s enough people here to ride the train to make it economically viable,” he said, “and [we’ve] also got to show that by stopping here… we’re not going to take them away from the existing station in Norfolk [and] Newport News”.

“If those hurdles are cleared, the second step is a feasibility study, where we look at actually locating a train station in our city,” Lewis added.

He noted that the city already solicited proposals for these studies and will launch them after July 1. He estimates that it will take 9 to 12 months to complete both reviews.

At the work session, Robert B. Case, PE, PhD., chief transportation engineer with HRTPO, presented his team’s preliminary findings – essentially an “early look” to gauge whether a downtown Suffolk station is physically feasible.

Case examined ten possible locations along the Norfolk Southern rail line between Lake Kilby and the Washington Street crossing downtown, applying five key criteria (space for tracks and a platform, a long siding track to avoid blocking mainline traffic, platform length and width, and at least a two-acre site). Most of the locations were ruled out due to insufficient space or conflicts with existing streets and neighborhoods. Notably, the site of Suffolk’s old passenger depot, which still stands downtown, was deemed too constrained, as there isn’t enough uninterrupted track between two crossings to fit a modern train platform. Another spot known as the “Golden Peanut” site (a former industrial property) initially met all the requirements. Looked like a good place,” Case said, but it was eliminated because a major redevelopment is already planned there.

After narrowing the search, Case highlighted three potential downtown station sites that could meet the requirements. Two of the options are in commercial or industrial areas. One promising location is near Main Street and Commerce Street downtown. “Between those two streets… You would need to close Commerce Street [at] the tracks,” Case explained, noting that the street could remain on either side but not cross the tracks. Otherwise, he said, “This is another good site. There’s space for the train, [the] platform, [the] siding and the site.” The city already owns a parking lot in that block, and by combining it with adjacent parcels up to the rail line, Suffolk could assemble roughly 2.2 acres for a station, exceeding the two-acre minimum.

The second viable site is along an old railroad spur east of downtown. That location offers ample room for a station and sidings, but the spur is a dead-end track. Case noted this would require trains to reverse direction when entering or leaving the station. “It would involve backing the train for each usage,” he said, adding, “it’s not necessarily a deal-killer, but it does take more time”.

The third identified site lies in a residential area from the former Golden Peanut property (near Wellons and Wilson streets). While physically large enough for a station, that area is filled with occupied homes. Using it would likely mean buying and removing houses – a scenario city officials would only consider if no better options exist.

Council member John Rector suggested examining sites outside downtown where more land might be available, an idea Case agreed would be possible to consider in the future.

“I don’t want to see that potential option being taken off the table If the studies indicate that, you know, Suffolk is a good place to have a station, because I firmly believe it is,” Rector said.

Lewis said most of the sentiment they have heard up to this point was putting the station near downtown Suffolk.

“I believe, thus far, most of the sentiment we have been hearing has been more geared around putting it in downtown, rather than trying to push it further west into the more rural areas, and you’re dealing with a lot of issues out there,” Lewis said. “You gotta make sure you got adequate transportation to get people there. The nice thing is, as we look at putting any downtown, it becomes a synergy. You can ride the train to and from, you hopefully can ride the transit systems to and from. Lot of people live in an area they can walk to and from, and actually, it could become a destination at some point where people want to come to Suffolk and go see something, go do something, and then catch the train and ride back.”

With the preliminary “early look” complete, Suffolk will move on to the in-depth studies required by Amtrak and the federal government.

“After July 1, when the new budget comes into play and funding is available, [we can] begin these required studies,” Lewis said.

The ridership and revenue analysis will determine whether enough passengers would use a Suffolk station, and ensure a stop here wouldn’t simply siphon riders from Norfolk or Newport News. A detailed engineering study of the preferred site will follow if the results are positive.

“Hopefully, those two studies will be completed and available back to you within a 12-month period,” Lewis told the Council.

After that, the city would seek Amtrak’s and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation’s approval to add a Suffolk stop and then turn to funding construction.

City Council members and the mayor stressed that patience and partnership will be essential. “This is something that a lot of our citizens have asked us about. They’re excited about it,”

Mayor Michael Duman said, noting that regional allies are already on board. He recalled that the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization – the regional body of local governments – formally backed Suffolk’s rail initiative late last year.

“Matter of fact, I believe Mayor [Kenny] Alexander from Norfolk made the motion to move this study forward on our behalf,” Duman said, adding that Norfolk “has a station there, so they don’t have any objection to it.” Suffolk’s neighbors see the benefit: a new stop would expand rail access for western Tidewater residents without undermining the existing Amtrak service in Norfolk.

Many in the community have long hoped for Amtrak to return to Suffolk. The city has not seen passenger trains since 1977. Amtrak’s Mountaineer line, which ran from Norfolk through Suffolk to Richmond and onward to Chicago, was discontinued due to low ridership and financial losses. The old downtown Suffolk station has sat vacant ever since. In recent years, public interest in restoring service has grown.

Today, however, officials are optimistic that conditions have changed. Lewis pointed out that Newport News successfully expanded its Amtrak facilities with regional support in recent years. He also suggested that new federal infrastructure programs and Virginia’s renewed focus on rail could help.

“Certainly in today’s world, train travel is becoming more [popular] – more likely to get funding,” Lewis said, noting that by the time Suffolk completes its studies, there should be opportunities to pursue grants or regional funds.

For now, the focus is on proving Suffolk’s case. City officials plan to kick off the ridership study later this summer, followed by the site feasibility analysis. Duman acknowledged the road ahead could be long.

“You’re telling me we got a long way to go,” he said wryly during the meeting, “but…the next step is to get the OK that a station in Suffolk would be viable” and won’t detract from other locations.

Suffolk will then turn to the funding and construction phase. In the meantime, residents and council members are buoyed by the renewed momentum.