The trains will carry no passengers and will operate two times per day, Monday through Saturday, Amtrak said.

The new service will extend a Northeast Regional train south of Washington, D.C., also adding service to Richmond, Va., and restoring passenger service to Norfolk for the first time since 1977.

NS and the state of Virginia announced the effort to extend Amtrak service to Norfolk in Dec. 2010, using a portion of NS’s Heartland Corridor between Norfolk and Petersburg. Amtrak service to Virginia’s Tidewater region currently operating on CSX right-of-way to and from Newport News, Va., on the north side of the James River, will continue to operate.