Diamond State Line

The Diamond State Line is a proposed Amtrak passenger rail service in the U.S. state of Delaware and the greater Delmarva Peninsula.

Diamond State Line

Wilmington, Delaware's train station on the Northeast Corridor.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Proposed
Locale	Delmarva Peninsula
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Website	dartfirststate.com
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map Northeast Corridor to Philadelphia Wilmington Newark Northeast Corridor to Washington Norfolk Southern Railway to Wilmington Middletown Dover Harrington Corridor Scenario 2 Corridor Scenario 2 Milford Georgetown Delaware Maryland Berlin Maryland & Delaware Corridor Scenario 1 Corridor Scenario 1 Seaford Delaware Maryland Salisbury Delmarva Central Railroad Source

Background

The proposal was considered by the Federal Railroad Administration as a part of the Corridor Identification and Development Program, which is a thorough planning and development program for creating new and upgrading existing inter-city passenger rail services in the United States.

The Federal Railroad Administration has allocated a $500,000 grant to the Delaware Transit Corporation to plan the schedules, route, and cost of the project. A route for this project hasn't been officially decided, however the line has been said to start from either Newark or Wilmington, go through the state capital of Dover, and end in southern Maryland at Salisbury or Berlin.

The route is primarily owned by Norfolk Southern Railway, a Class 1 U.S. freight railroad.

History

In 1957, the Pennsylvania Railroad, would suspend all passenger rail services in Delaware, however for six months in 1965, a limited passenger service called the "Blue Diamond" would be ran on a trial basis on the proposed routes mainline. This route would not attract enough ridership to justify operating the service, as some riders claimed the schedule was the reason of the service's declining ridership.