Diamond State Line
{{Short description|Proposed Amtrak route}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox rail service
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| name = Diamond State Line
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| image = Wilmington Station from parking garage, July 2014.JPG
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| caption = Wilmington, Delaware's train station on the Northeast Corridor.
| type = Inter-city rail
| status = Proposed
| locale = Delmarva Peninsula
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| operator = Amtrak
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| website = {{URL|https://dartfirststate.com/}}
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}}The Diamond State Line is a proposed Amtrak passenger rail service in the U.S. state of Delaware and the greater Delmarva Peninsula.
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.{{Cite web |title=Proposal would connect small towns in Delaware to the Northeast Corridor. |url=https://www.transportation.gov/rural/grant-toolkit/corridor-identification-and-development-program}}{{Cite web |last=Flaks |first=Rob |date=2023-12-12 |title=Proposal would connect Delmarva to Amtrack Corridor with new Diamond State Line |url=https://www.wmdt.com/2023/12/proposal-would-connect-delmarva-to-amtrack-corridor-with-new-daimond-state-line/ |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=47abc |language=en-US}}
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.{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/will-delaware-get-a-new-north-south-train-line/ar-AA1mpg5z |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=www.msn.com}}
The route is primarily owned by Norfolk Southern Railway, a Class 1 U.S. freight railroad.{{Cite web |title=Arcgis Ownership Map |url=https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=96ec03e4fc8546bd8a864e39a2c3fc41 |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=www.arcgis.com}}
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" was run on a trial basis on the proposed routes mainline. This route did not attract enough ridership to justify operating the service, as some riders claimed the schedule was the reason of the service's declining ridership.{{Cite web |last=Mammarella |first=Ken |date=2023-12-22 |title=%title |url=https://delawarelive.com/deldot-to-study-passenger-rail-service-downstate/ |access-date=2024-09-10 |language=en-US}}