Amtrak's Staples Mill Road station is busiest in the Southeast

The Staples Mill Amtrak station in Henrico County was the busiest station in the Southeast last year, attracting nearly 425,000 riders.

Overall Amtrak Virginia reported total ridership of more than 1.3 million in 2023 – a record high.

According to Amtrak, the top five stations in the Southeast in 2023 were:

• Staples Mill (424,617 passengers); • Alexandria, Virginia (327,285); • Charlotte, North Carolina (281,220); • Norfolk (232,530); • Raleigh, North Carolina (231,229).

Amtrak Virginia offers 12 daily trains to the Staples Mill station for service to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, New York and Boston, with additional services available to travel to Raleigh, Charlotte, Savannah, and other cities as far south as Miami. The growth in ridership across Virginia has been fueled by a number of factors, including rising interest in travel by train, improved accessibility, and the introduction of new routes and services, according to transportation officials.

“Richmond is not just the capital of Virginia, it’s the epicenter of the East, connecting the Southeast and the Northeast by rail,” said DJ Stadtler, Executive Director of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority which oversees the Commonwealth’s Amtrak Virginia service. “All three of these stations – Richmond-Staples Mill, Alexandria, and Norfolk – offer Virginians access to rail service connecting the Commonwealth with the rest of the East Coast.”