Commuter Rail - Garner to West Durham

[keita]

Reported by the N&O (the same article can also be ready for free via Mass Transit Magazine), after Wednesday’s Board of Trustees meeting, we have more context about that idea to split the Raleigh-Durham commuter rail project into multiple phases.

@News and Observer article (via Mass Transit Magazine)

“If we were to do the whole project — if we could afford the whole project — we wouldn’t be scrambling here,” Lattuca told members of the GoTriangle board Wednesday. “So now we have to have a much more complex decision-making process.”

[…] [GoTriangle] now says the project would cost between $2.8 billion and $3.2 billion. Inflation accounts for about a third of the additional cost, Lattuca said. The rest comes from engineering challenges discovered during the feasibility study and measures that Norfolk Southern, which controls much of the rail line, would require to ensure its freight trains can continue running smoothly.

The higher cost means the project would likely not qualify for [the federal grant program we talked about earlier], Lattuca said. It also means the transit taxes in Durham and Wake wouldn’t generate enough money to cover the local share before construction got started.

GoTriangle’s Chief Development Officer did acknowledge that it would ultimately be more expensive to build the full Durham-Garner rail line in phases versus all at once. Still, it doesn’t change the ugly truths that we don’t have the money to do it all at once and that there are still unresolved details that could derail the project if it’s tackled now in its current state (versus NCDOT dealing with the east Durham rail bridge issues when they get to it).

There is good news for the region, though: it seems like GoTriangle’s leaning towards the Raleigh-RTP route rather than Raleigh-Garner as the first segment.

@News and Observer article (via Mass Transit Magazine

Lattuca said the first phase of the commuter rail would have to include RTP, and said the middle leg is probably the best place to start. But he said GoTriangle will need to get buy-in from the public and local governments for the entire system before moving forward.

The final feasibility study is slated to be released for public comment this January. That’s when we will need to do everything we can to show support for this project, so let’s keep an eye out for that!