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Updated at 3:55 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, with a comment from VRE.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — For nine days in October, the last stop for most trains coming north out of Virginia will be Alexandria.
Amtrak announced Monday that it will shut down A-Interlocking, the track junction inside the First Street Tunnel just south of Washington Union Station, from the close of service Friday, Oct. 16, until service resumes Monday morning, Oct. 26. The railroad is calling the project "Pause for Progress."
A-Interlocking routes every Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express movement between Union Station and Virginia. Its switches and crossovers are past their service life, and trains currently crawl through at 10 mph because of it. Crews will replace the switches and crossovers, rebuild the tunnel track base and install modern electric switch systems.
Amtrak said a single concentrated outage is more efficient than phased work because the tunnel is cramped and hard to access, and that the project is meant to head off larger unplanned failures later.
What it means at Callahan Drive
Alexandria Union Station becomes the northern terminus for Amtrak's Virginia trains. Amtrak Virginia will run one round trip between Norfolk and Alexandria and one between Roanoke and Alexandria. Three round-trip buses, timed to meet those trains, will bridge the gap between Alexandria and Washington.
The Carolinian will operate as a train between New York and Washington, then as a bus between Washington and Alexandria, then as a train again from Alexandria to Charlotte.
Amtrak will also run express buses to Washington from Roanoke and Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News and Williamsburg, and Richmond's Staples Mill and Main Street stations.
Travelers should expect significant service reductions and cancellations south of Washington, the railroad said, with rebooking options and updates through Amtrak.com.
Long-distance trains truncated
Several routes will be cut back sharply. The Cardinal will run only between Chicago and Indianapolis. The Floridian will operate Chicago to Pittsburgh and Jacksonville to Miami, with nothing in between. The Silver Meteor will run New York to Washington and Jacksonville to Miami. The Palmetto and the Crescent will terminate at Washington, with the Crescent also running Atlanta to New Orleans.
Northeast Regional service north of Washington — to New York and Boston — is unaffected.
What it means for VRE commuters
Amtrak's announcement did not say what happens to Virginia Railway Express service, though the junction handles VRE trains as well as its own. Both VRE lines, Fredericksburg and Manassas, run through Alexandria on the way to Washington.
VRE will run a modified schedule during the outage, Public Affairs Administrator Lindsey Martin said Tuesday. The commuter railroad is working toward a schedule that serves every station except Washington Union Station, and Martin said daily access to the Washington area will remain available by train.
The schedule is not final. VRE is waiting on its host railroad to approve the proposal, Martin said, and will publish the modified timetable at vre.org/schedule once it is settled.
Because VRE does not operate on weekends, the outage touches only one workweek: Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 23. Trains run normally on Oct. 16, before the shutdown begins, and on Oct. 26, after it ends.
Amtrak said it is coordinating with VRE, the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority and the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
