Yes. I met with the assistant director of NCRail a few weeks ago, and he confirmed that a fifth round trip route is scheduled to be added in either 2020 or 2021. He said that the increases in ridership (which was up 30% since last June) is the clearest way to increase routes and improve service. So, go ride the train – a lot! I commute with it to work 2-3 times a week.
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Fyi I’m on the R Line and it’s very full with convention goers right now. Good benefit for the city to have this.
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Increasing ridership for the NCDOT trains is a very good thing. Five per day in each direction is probably the endpoint for the foreseeable future, although NCDOT remains hopeful that they can shave a few minutes off the current 3 hour 10 minute running time. I suspect 2 hours 50 minutes is within reach. Would cost another $100-200 million to get to 2 hours 30 minutes, and probably another $1 billion to get to 2 hours flat – which was Governor Hunt’s initial goal (very ambitious indeed) when all this started. Nobody really talks about 2 hours flat anymore, although some people haven’t given up hope for 2 hours 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, folks in Wilmington and Asheville will be fighting to get trains for themselves. I think Wilmington is likely to win simply because a Raleigh-Wilmington train could run very fast whereas an Asheville-Salisbury train will always run slow because of the tortuous route through the ECD.
Charlotte-Raleigh trains might take a dip in ridership when the infernal widening project on I-85 between Charlotte and Salisbury is finally completed… next year, they say, although I have my doubts. The opening of the Asheboro bypass next year may also lure people back to NC 49. But these are short-term factors and the trains are here to stay.
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My dream is to have a day trip possibility of Raleigh to Wrightsville by train and uber.
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Pretty good blog post making the rounds on twitter today from the guy who Raleigh hired to assess what type of transit makes the most sense for next steps.
The main points he makes are that people tie public transit to ending congestion, but that is not really what it does. It does some other good stuff though. What Does Transit Do About Traffic Congestion? (updated) — Human Transit
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Even if Raleigh-Charlotte could be shaved down to just 2:59 there would be a big impact on the public perception of the service.
2:30 is a heavy lift with current stopping patterns and even more so given they want to add stations in Hillsborough, Lexington, and Harrisburg. They could probably do 2:40 tomorrow with a nonstop Raleigh-Charlotte trip and no padding for delays.
2h Raleigh-Charlotte and 3h Raleigh-DC would be a game changer. Even that is just Acela-level performance, decisevely faster than driving but still not world class high speed rail.
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Awesome blog post. Learned a lot! Thank you for sharing
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The Cary to Raleigh tracks still have too many at-grade crossing. Those need to be fixed.
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Plans are underway to eliminate the majority of those crossings.
http://www.rcrxstudy.org/images/site/Documents/RCRXRecommendationSummary3-3-16.pdf
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The Beryl Road/Royal Avenue, Blue Ridge Road, Trinity Road and Maynard Road grade separation projects are all currently NCDOT funded projects
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So the recommendation is to have rail bridges. If Cary doesn’t want a lumpy rail line ugling the view, they might want to consider updating the Cary Train Station to have an elevated rail platform as well. Otherwise it will look like the back of a dragon’s body.
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I think downtown Cary can get by with at-grade crossings on N. Harrison and N. Academy simply because all passenger trains would be stopping at the Cary station. This segment wouldn’t benefit speed-wise from grade separation.
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Remember, freight trains pass through Cary, and they don’t stop at the station.
Some quick thoughts on Amtrak/local rail:
- I’ve taken the train to/from Raleigh/Durham many times, and it’s a great way to get from city to city IMHO. Takes about as long as driving, and one doesn’t have to worry about traffic or operating a vehicle which is nice.
- I’ve utilized the Charlotte service a few times and the service to DC and further several times as well. Carolinian and Silver Star trains generally are larger and offer more services than the Piedmont. By and far my favorite way to travel to DC.
- While I love taking the train, I must concede the reliability of the schedule leaves a bit to be desired. I’ve definitely had delayed trains, and had to call a friend to pick me up in Durham one night when our train (last one) was cancelled due to issues. Improving the reliability of service would make this a more viable option, along with adding more trips.
- On that note, service to the beach and mountains when? Seriously, it is a crying shame that we can’t use rail service to see more of this beautiful state without having to drive.
- Roll-on bicycle service is free between Raleigh and Charlotte and only $20 between Raleigh and DC. Nothing is better than rolling off the platform and immediately cruising onto the street in a new city! For an ambitious day trip, take the train to Raleigh/Durham and bike back home! Or bike over/train back, if you prefer. Or just take your bike with you for a day as you explore a different place.
- I have not found business class to be worth it, myself. I have not noticed the seats to be much different, the cars are usually about equally full, and the complimentary soda doesn’t justify the added price, really. I’d rather make the trip to the cafe car, myself. I haven’t ever gotten a room, but have heard from friends that they are great on longer trips.
- Northern service definitely runs quicker and has better accommodations. The dining and viewing cars are really fun, and it just feels more like you’re on an adventure compared to another form of transit.
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This is true, but the maximum speed without an impenetrable barrier is 110 mph. The freight trains don’t go anywhere near this speed, particularly through downtown Cary. Eliminating these crossings makes sense from a safety perspective but they won’t increase the speed in that area.
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I spent the last week and a half traveling around Switzerland, and let me tell you - the public transit system here us something to strive for. Raleigh, like pretty much anytown USA has loooooong way to go.
You can pretty much travel the entire country by rail, with trains running just about anywhere every hour at the most. with good connections that you never wait more then 10 minutes when you need to change trains. Reliable, good and clean buses take you where there is no rail service. Major metro areas like Zurich are served by commuter rail which runs every 15 minutes during peak times, along with trams and buses which run every 3-7 minutes.
We’ve been traveling the country for the past 10 days without a car, and have never felt the need to have one. The closest bus, and or rail stop is always at most a several minute walk away. The whole system is meshed and integrated throughout the country. We bought a Swiss Pass which lets us use pretty much any public transit network in the country, without having to scrounge for loose change or figure out what ticket to buy when.
I know most cities in the US (including Raleigh) lack the density needed to make this all work. But it makes me scratch my head when our city council laughs at 40 story projects like Smoky Hollow along future transit corridors due to traffic concerns. We will never get there with this bass ackwards mentality.
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I agree, I have been screaming about the need for “better transit” here in the Triangle for years now. I find myself dumbfounded by the decisions made by city council leaders and lack of effort in Investing into transit. maybe not lack of effort as I hope that the higher ups are considering, 
Preliminary studies and research into what works for transit…blaa…blaa, which is find as long as you make strong commitments into making Transit work here in the triangle area. which is why I post topics here about light rail…commuter rail, or any other means of transit to get around. Not saying to ditch yours Cars, but to have Options of getting around, Plus having accessable and affordable means to get around.Shame that we are at a snails pace when it comes to transit.
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Cary is somewhere in the early stages of a downtown multimodal facility study. Basically the facilities are inadequate. There aren’t enough bus bays, the grade crossings cause problems (especially when trains stop in a way that blocks them), there will need to be a second NCRR track and another platform, etc.
They are considering what to do with those grade crossings as a part of this study.
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How fast the freights go though Cary depends on whether they change tracks at the Fetner crossover. If a CSX freight is lined “straight through”, it can run at 40 mph according to the last Employee Timetable that I saw. NS freight trains run up to 35 if they’re lined straight through. Neither railroad could run its freights much faster through Cary than that anyway for other reasons.
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