Virginia will receive $44.3 million in federal grant money for planning an eventual high-speed passenger rail link between Richmond and Washington.
The grant is part of more than $48 million in federal funding announced Tuesday by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to develop a high-speed rail corridor between Raleigh, N.C., and Washington.
The goal is ultimately to spur high-speed rail development throughout the southeast, which has seen a population boom in recent decades.
Virginia's grant will enable the state to conduct an environmental analysis and identify potential track alignments for high-speed rail from Richmond to Washington, said Courtney Moyer, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
The state agency is contributing $11.3 million toward the project. The study could take several years.
"This is probably one of the more important pieces of funding," said Daniel J. Plaugher, executive director of Virginians for High Speed Rail. "This is really for creating the blueprint for Virginia's high-speed rail corridor between Washington and Richmond."
About $4 million will go to North Carolina for analysis and preliminary engineering on a new connection between Raleigh and Richmond. The aim is to reduce travel time between the cities to around two hours, shaving about 90 minutes off the current schedule.
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