I was thinking about this idea as I was replying to you!
I was hesitant to mention it, though, since I feel like the idea of bypassing Greensboro would be an ever harder sell now than when you first suggested this), especially with how there’s so much more manufacturing jobs there, now. Maybe you could find a decent compromise by putting together bits and pieces of your other suggestion for using power line easements and highway medians, though those ideas would have their own construction challenges.
Either way, I’d be happy with any upgrade to the Raleigh-Charlotte rail corridor as long as they:
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Help trains run faster and more reliably, especially if level boarding, more grade separation, and electrification are on the table.
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Work together with the 220mph Atlanta-Charlotte high-speed rail corridor that’s being proposed. Georgia already did the first part of environmental studies that showed this is reasonable (and best done with an all-new corridor), so we just need to actually do the second half of research to figure out where exactly should tracks be built.
Interestingly, the same grants that we got for possible regional rail corridors across North Carolina also made it so that we are in charge of the immediate next steps for the Atlanta HSR, too!