TBJ has an article today on the possibility of Raleigh-Fayetteville commuter rail. Apparently in January Fayetteville City Council expressed support for the second phase of a study into a possible system.
Some highlights from the article:
One of the biggest differences between the two routes is travel time. The western corridor contains more turns, meaning the train could only reach speeds of around 25 miles per hour on most parts of the track. The eastern corridor, however, contains more straight lines. The train can reach speeds of up to 70 and 79 miles per hour for large portions of the journey, the study said. Graham said the time difference between the two options is about 45 minutes to 90 minutes for the eastern corridor, and between 90 minutes to 2 hours for the western corridor.
The capital costs of getting each line ready for passenger service differ, too. Projected costs for the western corridor would be around $131 million, compared with between $169 million to $175 million for the eastern corridor, the study said.
The study also said projected ridership would be 13 percent higher on the eastern corridor.
Phase 2 of the study will develop more fine-tuned cost estimates for each corridor. Graham said Phase 2 will eventually pick a preferred route for the rail service.
Graham said it’s still early in the process, and it’s not known if a new organization would operate the line or if it’d be the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s rail division.
“We’d probably end up maybe implementing some type of special transit tax, maybe a penny sales tax in order to pay for the initial local match cost for implementing the service from scratch,” Graham said. “Maybe we’d have to build a new station in both locations, or a midpoint station in Selma.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2022/02/07/raleigh-fayetteville-rail-line-considered.html