Michael Pope reports One hundred years ago, trains were the way to get around Virginia. Then the rise of the automobile changed all that. Passenger rail lines were cancelled, and interstates became clogged with traffic. Larry Hincker at the New River Valley passenger rail initiative says the interstates is great, but they’re not the solution to everything. "We're been advocating for improvements to I-81, but we also can see that passenger rail helps alleviate some of that I-81 traffic." An Amtrak passenger train rolls into Roanoke's new station in 2017. Amtrak's Northeast Regional service starts and ends each day in Roanoke.