The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad under Collis Potter Huntington completed the Peninsula Extension to the small town of Newport News in 1881. This allowed the C&O to transport West Virginia coal to Hampton Roads - the largest warm-water port on the East Coast - and directly compete with the Norfolk and Western Railway. Between the coal exports and Huntington's Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News soon became a major shipping and industrial area. Ferry service between Norfolk and Newport News began in 1883, though the first passenger train station at Newport News was not built until 1892. The multi-story brick structure, Victorian with a large clock tower, was built on the waterfront at 23rd Street. A train shed stretched onto a pier so that passengers could transfer directly between trains and ferries. By the 1930s, the station was in poor shape, having settled significantly due to the soft soil. It was demolished in 1940 and replaced with a smaller two-story brick station. The new station was constructed on a concrete base above the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane flood level, and its pilings were driven underground to prevent settling. When Amtrak took over intercity passenger service in the United States on May 1, 1971, the C&O had served Newport News with three daily round trips: the Newport News sections of the George Washington and Fast Flying Virginian/Sportsman, plus a Newport News-Richmond trip.
Amtrak
Amtrak kept only one daily round trip to Newport News - a section of the Newport News-Cincinnati George Washington. It was combined with the James Whitcomb Riley on July 12, 1971 to provide through service to Chicago. The George Washington name was used for the eastbound section until May 19, 1974. On June 14, 1976, the Newport News section of the Riley was replaced with the Washington-Newport News Colonial. Ferry service had been replaced by buses through the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel upon its 1957 opening, making the waterfront location less desirable for a train station. The current facility is planned to be replaced with two new stations—a large intermodal station near the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport and a smaller station in downtown Newport News. The city plans to begin design work for the larger station in the summer of 2011, for an opening sometime before 2016. As of 2011, the cost is estimated at $24 million.
