Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-4th) presented a symbolic $1 million check to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority on Monday to begin a planning study for the future of the station, also known as Petersburg Station, which is being prepared to handle faster commuter rail on a newly built rail line between Richmond and Raleigh.

“The Ettrick Station is a priority for us as it provides an important connection not only to Northern Virginia and northern destinations such as Philadelphia, New York and Boston, but also to our planned expansion to the south,” said DJ Stadtler, the authority’s executive director, on Monday.

Ettrick Station in southern Chesterfield County, next to Virginia State University, is already served by 14 Amtrak trains daily that travel along the Atlantic coast and commute between Norfolk and Washington, DC.

“The Ettrick station serves as a major transportation hub in the Tri-Cities region of our county, carrying tens of thousands of passengers each year, including Virginia State University students, commuters going to and from work, as well as tourists and long-distance passengers,” said McClellan, the daughter of a Virginia State professor who grew up in Ettrick.

“However, decades of underinvestment have left the station outdated and in need of repair,” she said Monday. “These federal funds will support the design and construction of a new, state-of-the-art station that will meet current and future needs.”

The planning study will examine whether the station should be rebuilt or replaced. Several hectares of adjacent land and a disused railway depot will be used for this purpose.

“The community would benefit from a modern facility that is more geared towards leisure,” said Stadtler in an interview. “It’s not just about the 14 trains.”

The agency is already spending money from another federal grant to make short-term improvements to the 69-year-old station, which sits just across the Appomattox River from Petersburg.

Two years ago, the Federal Railroad Administration awarded the state a $6.4 million grant to modernize the station, which included building a new platform and canopy for boarding and alighting trains, improving station access for the handicapped and other improvements. Stadtler estimated the total cost of the improvements at $11 million, with the agency covering the balance.

Planning for these improvements is almost complete and construction will begin next year.

“This station has served Petersburg residents since 1956, and while the Richmond to Raleigh project makes Petersburg a major stop, today the Ettrick station needs a little renovation,” Stadtler said.

“That’s why we’re not waiting for Richmond to come to Raleigh,” he said. “Instead, we’re working on what Ettrick needs today.”

The push into North Carolina will be a long time coming. North Carolina began rebuilding an 18-mile section of the abandoned S Line between Raleigh and Wake Forest, North Carolina, in July with a $1.1 billion grant the state received in December as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which President Joe Biden signed in 2022.

Virginia also plans to reclaim the abandoned S-Line track, which was part of a $525 million deal the state signed with CSX Corp. in 2021 for control of 350 miles of railroad rights-of-way and 225 miles of track that are part of the CSX freight rail system. That includes 30 miles of active track between Richmond and Petersburg and 75 miles of the abandoned S-Line track between Petersburg and Ridgeway, North Carolina.

The Passenger Rail Authority expects to begin surveying, clearing and rebuilding the track for the project next year, but Stadtler doesn’t know how long it will take to lay new track or how much it will cost. The authority has named contractors to begin preliminary design for the six sections of the S-Line project. It will use $38 million from another federal grant to do the work, but is still waiting for the government to release the money.