Virginia Railway Express officials are considering extending the commuter rail service farther into Virginia, with a line starting in Gainesville.
The new service would be the first expansion for the train service that currently runs two lines from Fredericksburg and Manassas into the District.
It would also be the latest push to give Northern Virginia commuters more options besides traffic-clogged roads as they head into the nation’s capital. Officials tested a possible ferry service launching from Prince William County up the Potomac River, while others are asking Congress to study the extension of Metrorail deeper into the commonwealth.
But the plan for another branch of VRE service is still in the early phases. Officials presented the findings of a feasibility study to residents in the area last week.
No funding has been lined up yet for the expansion, though, which is projected to cost from $102 million to $244 million, according to VRE spokesman Mark Roeber.
The train service has been considering the plan since at least 2004. Next came a study of what it would entail to add an 11-mile branch off the Manassas line. Officials considered having buses run to an existing station or adding a full-blown train line running as far as the town of Haymarket.
Last Monday, the Haymarket Town Council passed a resolution that supported extending the line, but only to Gainesville, rather than a couple miles farther west to its town.
“Certainly it’s going to impact positively the ability to commute into D.C.,” said Town Manager Gene Swearingen. ”The issue is for us the amount of traffic it generates at the end of the line.”
The feasibility study also favors ending the line at Gainesville — at least initially.
Roeber said studies indicated the new line could carry from 1,000 to 5,000 riders a day, relieving some of the traffic along Interstate 66.
The earliest the line could be up and running, Roeber said, would be 2013.
