The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, the chief advocate for restoring rail to the Valley, is now positioned to lead development of the region’s 49-mile rail corridor after the Commonwealth Transportation Board signaled support last week for transferring the project from VDOT to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority and partnering with the nonprofit to purchase the line and build the trail.

If approved, the move would give the corridor its first clearly defined path after years of public study and open disagreement.

The proposal, presented publicly for the first time at the CTB’s Dec. 9 meeting, came just over a week after VDOT released the final phase of its Shenandoah Valley Rail-With-Trail study. That report found that restoring rail service alongside a trail would cost $687

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