Nine-Day Amtrak Shutdown Starts Tonight; VRE Loses Union Station Next Week

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Rail riders should make plans now for a major service disruption beginning after the last trains run Friday, Oct. 16.Amtrak will close the First Street Tunnel connection just south of Washington Union Station for nine days while crews replace aging switches and crossovers at the A-Interlocking. The work is scheduled to end before service resumes Monday morning, Oct. 26.

Virginia Railway Express says both the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines are operating full service Friday. The larger planned change begins Monday: from Oct. 19 through Oct. 23, VRE will run a modified S+ schedule. Morning trains will terminate at L’Enfant Plaza and afternoon trains will originate there. Riders who normally use Union Station will need alternate transportation between L’Enfant and Union Station.

Amtrak service south of Washington will also be sharply reduced. Amtrak Virginia plans one daily Norfolk–Alexandria round trip and one Roanoke–Alexandria round trip, with three daily round-trip bus bridges timed to connect Alexandria and Washington. The Carolinian will operate by train between Alexandria and Charlotte, with a bus connection between Alexandria and Union Station. Several long-distance routes will be shortened or suspended across portions of their normal paths.

Amtrak says the existing components are beyond their service life and currently require a 10-mph speed restriction. During the outage, crews will rebuild the tunnel track base and install modern electric switch systems.

Passengers should check individual reservations before traveling. Amtrak is offering rebooking help and alternative travel options. VRE riders can review the modified Oct. 19–23 schedule, and Amtrak lists the full changes in its official service notice.

Alexandria riders also face a separate Metro complication this weekend: Blue Line trains will stop at Reagan National Airport Oct. 17–18, with three stations closed and free shuttle buses replacing service farther north. Taken together, the two projects make this an unusually complicated stretch for rail travel from Alexandria.