Diamond State Line

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.^[2][3]

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.^[4]

The route is primarily owned by Norfolk Southern Railway, a Class 1 U.S. freight railroad,^[5] although its operations are run by the Delmarva Central Railroad.^[6]

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.^[7]