A VRE train. Most things are the same.

VRE has officially changed operators. Today marked the first day of service run by a company called Keolis, rather than by historic operator Amtrak. The change in contractor saves VRE money.

For this first week of Keolis service, everything is the same as it was under Amtrak, but starting next week there will be some changes.

The most noteworthy change is that since Amtrak no longer runs VRE, VRE tickets will no longer be accepted on Amtrak trains (correction: only applies to certain Amtrak trains – see comments for more details). Amtrak will still run its Virginia intercity trains of course, and will continue to stop at the same stations, but you’ll need an actual Amtrak ticket to ride. One new VRE train is being added to the Fredericksburg line to compensate, but it’s still a loss.

Otherwise, the changes are fairly minor. Several train schedules are being shifted between 1-5 minutes, and several Fredericksburg trains are being re-numbered.