VA: Bedford council accepts $1M grant for passenger rail stop effort

In a push for a passenger rail stop in Bedford, the town council voted Tuesday to accept a federal grant of $1.4 million and amended the town’s current budget to include that money and a 20% match of $375,000 for the much-anticipated project.

Bedford Town Manager Bart Warner said the application to the Federal Rail Administration (FRA) was submitted in May 2024 for a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grant to pay for the initial phase of the project. The phase was for preliminary engineering and environmental review to further the planning and design of a new passenger rail station, track and platform work, parking and multimodal connectivity to and from the station, and assessment of effects on the regional economy and traffic patterns, Warner said.

Bedford passenger rail stop envisioned

The grant agreement period has a budget period of two years to be completed, Warner said. Bedford Town Council’s action on Tuesday means the town agrees to move forward in preparing to construct a passenger rail station and will follow through.

“This is the design work,” Warner said. “The construction work, we think, is going to cost approximately $4.5 million.”

The overall project is estimated in the range of $23 million to $24 million, according to a previous presentation to the council by Mary Zirkle, the town’s economic development coordinator.

Zirkle said the town will apply for future funds for construction, which also would require a 20% local match.

“There are other pools of funds that may be available, talking with the [ Virginia] Department of Rail and Public Transportation, since we are in the state corridor ID system,” Zirkle said.

Warner said the council would have two years to come up with money for contributing toward the construction.

“Our intent is for the town not to bear the entire cost,” Warner said.

Town officials have studied the viability of a new passenger rail stop for more than a decade.

Zirkle has said a site along the north side of Macon Street and west of 4th Street is the preferred location. The property is directly across from the town’s athletic fields between the Bedford County Health Department and Bedford Primary School.

The stop is projected to have new low-speed track siding south of the existing Norfolk Southern mainline tracks, a 1,000-foot-long-by-15-foot-wide, high-level boarding platform, a 30-space parking lot and a transit drop-off area with separate access for buses and cars, and sidewalks, according to a November 2023 presentation by Zirkle.

Stairs and ramps to provide ADA-compliant pedestrian access to the rail stop platform, minor improvements along Macon Street between the proposed rail stop and 4th Street, site grading for the proposed rail stop, new track and more Macon Street improvements, including retaining walls to minimize impacts to existing buildings and properties, also would be included in the project.

The overall project’s price tag includes $13 million for the stop, $5.7 million for the track and signals, and $4.2 million for improvements in that stretch of Macon Street, Zirkle has said.

Warner said the town will procure a consultant to conduct engineering and environmental review per a scope of work that is being developed.

In other news, council approved a conditional use permit for a homestay use, or short-term rental of a residence, on the 600 block of Baltimore Avenue. The Airbnb referred to in the application as “The Bedford Bungalow” offers off street parking and the number of guests is limited to four persons per stay.