Construction on the most congested railroad chokepoint on the East Coast is about to start squeezing train service through Virginia, and the state is preparing to run buses to fill the gap.

The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority is seeking a bus operator for daily motor coach service connecting Richmond, Washington D.C., and Virginia Beach, with service set to begin July 1, 2026 and run through at least the end of 2028. The route is tied directly to the Long Bridge expansion, a $2.4 billion project to build a new two-track railroad bridge across the Potomac River in Washington.

The existing Long Bridge, built in 1904, is the only railroad crossing of the Potomac south of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Every Amtrak train, every VRE commuter train, and every CSX freight train running up and down the Eastern Seaboard passes over it. The bridge runs at 98% capacity, meaning any hiccup ripples across the entire Northeast and Southeast rail network. The new bridge broke ground in 2024, and years of construction impacts to rail operations are expected.

The bus service requires four ADA lift-equipped motor coaches and a vendor with a maintenance facility within 60 miles of the route. The 2.5-year contract window reflects how long VPRA expects construction to constrain rail capacity on one of Amtrak's busiest state-supported corridors.

The inclusion of Virginia Beach is significant. Amtrak hasn't served Virginia Beach directly by rail in decades, leaving a metro area of 1.8 million people in Hampton Roads largely cut off from the Eastern Seaboard passenger rail network. VPRA has been studying options for restoring rail service to that corridor, and this bus connection may be laying groundwork for eventual rail service or simply maintaining a transit link while track capacity stays tight. Either way, it marks a notable shift in how Virginia's transit planners are thinking about Hampton Roads.

The Long Bridge project is the linchpin of Virginia's broader $3.7 billion bet on passenger rail, a 2019 deal with CSX to purchase 350 miles of right-of-way and dramatically expand Amtrak and commuter service across the state. That vision, which includes doubling Amtrak service to Virginia and extending VRE commuter rail, can't be realized without more capacity over the Potomac. The project has received over $729 million in federal grants through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, though costs have climbed from initial estimates of around $1.9 billion to more than $2.4 billion.

Proposals from bus operators are due in mid-March. If the timeline holds, riders will start seeing coaches on the Richmond-DC-Virginia Beach corridor by next summer.