I think a bus route with direct, non-stop service is the way to go. Definitely can’t see any dedicated ROW or fixed guideway system between RDU and commuter rail being worthwhile. The train spurs you see to JFK, Newark, Oakland, et. al. serve airports with three times the passengers that RDU has.
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That’s the one I was thinking of. The one that at one point was going to be a Chinatown or something. Having a CONRAC at the terminal is the best solution though.
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I think you are underestimating the amount of engineering involved with connecting the rail line directly to the terminal. There are a lot of limiting factors to take into consideration. The station would have to be at the end of a wye, thus requiring curved approaches from both directions. The line would have to weave its way into the complicated network of access roads already serving the airport as well. The wye would have to start/finish at a point no farther north than the south side of I-40, because a bridge or viaduct over the roadways north of that point would penetrate the clear areas required at the ends of the runways. Because of that, the curves for the wye would be a tighter radius. I think given the traffic volume at RDU, the expense of such a setup would be prohibitive from the start.
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Looks like that “mall” has been bought and is going to be turned in office space:
https://www.newsobserver.com/latest-news/article230068629.html
Totally agree that having the CONRAC at the terminals is the best choice. I always hated flying into airports and then having to get on a long bus ride to the rental car facilities.
Back on topic, wouldn’t RDU potentially lose out on parking revenues with a rail line connecting in? Seems like they wouldn’t be super-receptive to making the necessary accommodations.
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This will be key. When a train arrives in Mossirville, have a BRT bus ready right next to it so the passengers can get off the train and right onto the bus. Without having to wait 15 minutes or drag their luggage up and down a bunch of steps to make the connection.
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If the commuter ridership is there, and the region keeps growing like it has, could you do a lighter rail or monorail between the nearest commuter stop and the terminals? Point to Point, small trains every 15 mins or so with service from the NC54 Morrisville stop to the airport.
I’m not sure if I would use a rail connection to RDU even if it was there. Parking is convenient, relatively cheap, and I typically don’t have any traffic to deal with on my way there. I think the BRT and TOD nodes have to come first. Unless the end user can take their bags from their front door to the commuter/BRT/light rail stop they’re still going to have use a taxi, uber, or their car to get to a parking lot to get on the transit line.
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Maybe in the distant future a monorail or people mover could be added, but I think RDU’s passenger count, which is at a historic peak, would have to be a lot higher in order for a system like that to be considered. There are airports with a much higher passenger count that have a train to bus to airport connection (BOS, BWI)
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I think that is where your assumption is wrong. There will be multiple stations in this stretch, perhaps three or four, and although a station at RDU would probably net more riders than any one of those stations, the loss of all the passengers who would board at those stations (which are closer to residential areas than many of the other stations on the line), bound for the downtowns would IMO almost certainly offset the ridership gains from connecting to RDU in terms of absolute ridership, much less in terms of ridership per capital dollar spent.
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I think express buses to Union Station in Raleigh, plus local buses to Durham, RTC, and/or Cary, are the endgame for transit to RDU until at least 2040.
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1,000,000 a month is an awesome figure but I’m sure that’s diluted across the entire Triangle and beyond. There are plenty of travelers coming in/out from across the state especially the eastern parts so transit isn’t even an option.
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I love the details in this discussion. The commuter rail plans are essentially for a system like CalTrain which I used to ride to work and back home. Taking the CalTrain to work - YouTube
They have the same issue, but 2 airports along their route.
With SFO,people get off the train and take a monorail people mover.
IT goes from the San Bruno station to the airport and back
For San Jose airport the airport terminals are on the other side of the runways, so there is a bus every 15 minutes.
The trend is that they keep their main rail running and commutering. With spurs for airports.
I think this type of rail system is an apples for apples to what we would have between Garner and Durham. The SFO version of Garner has the outlet malls. I could totaly see Garner playing that role down the road (rail).
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The difference between SFO and RDU is that BART has a stop directly at the airport while RDU doesn’t have any rail service at all.
And I thought the people mover at SFO was just within the airport confines and didn’t go to the San Bruno station?
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Oh yeah, you are right, BART (which is San Frans Subway) does stop at SFO. The experience of getting off caltrain when heading north and getting on that little spur of BART feels like a monorail, but I guess it is Heavy Rail.
Airports
I would take Caltrain to Milbrea Station, then you take an escalator up to the BART startion that is on top of the Milbrea one.
BART goes underground for a hot minute
All right next to Caltrain above ground tracks
Then pops up and heads over to SFO.
Also, these sky views are bringing back memories of just how badly the bay area botched any type of TOD around Caltrian. A sea of Single Family Homes 2 to 3 blocks from stations.
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That last pic shows just how close the airport is to the existing Rail lines. if RDU was that close it would be a no brainier
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That’s the best news I’ve heard in a while, a tunnel for Blue Ridge. Desperately needed. Also the west side of Blue Ridge between Beryl and Hillsb is already the designated State Fair station for special fair trains during the season, although there’s no infrastructure I can’t imagine that not being at least a seasonal stop. Would be a useful stop for home football weekends and Canes games, too.
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Ah, Looking at the maps I understand better what I was seeing, and thus I am editing. Thanks for the cool maps and additions @ADUsSomeday
The smallest US airport I could find with a commuter rail connection is Albuquerque ABQ, with just under 5.5 million passengers served in 2018, or just under half of RDU’s passenger count. The train station is about 4 miles from the airport and is connected via a shuttle bus.
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I may be wrong, but I think that 500,000 a month coming into RDU
and
500,000 a month leaving RDU is correct or about right…
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I linked to that stat earlier in this thread: 1 million a month through RDU
It’s funny that the RDU site lists ‘Bus and Rail Service at RDU’. hah! Amtrak. (take an RDU taxi to the Durham station?)
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Does anyone know when 15 minute bus service to RDU kicks in? I think we are currently on once max twice an hour.