Virginia applying for $1.5bn in federal rail money

Highlights:

Virginia's proposed $1.51 billion plan includes $491 million improvements in a six-mile stretch around Richmond's Acca rail yard and a 13-mile link between the yard and Main Street Station in the city's downtown. The improvements are necessary to remove bottlenecks that limit rail service to the renovated station

Other parts of the proposal include:

* $185 million to add a third rail track between Richmond and Fredericksburg;

* $152 million to improve conventional rail service between Main Street Station and Petersburg; and

* $195 million to upgrade the rail corridor between Richmond and Washington, D.C., to allow high-speed trains that could cut the trip to 90 minutes on a reliable basis.

Read full story at the RT-D