North Carolina ridership stats: https://www.railpassengers.org/site/assets/files/1206/nc.pdf
(For other states/cities: https://www.railpassengers.org/tools-info/ridership-statistics/)
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The US High Speed Rail Association (a rail advocacy nonprofit) announced a policy proposal for how the Biden administration could make high-speed rail in America a reality -sooner. It basically suggests that the DoT make a new organization to manage several high speed rail projects across multiple states under one roof, and accelerates/funds a couple of key corridors.
Some of their suggestions are good, like bringing in much-needed upgrades to choke points in the Northeast Corridor or launching partnerships with airports and airlines to replace short-haul flights. Some others need more details like “coordinating closely on TODs” (wtf does that mean, specifically?), or may have conflict-of-interest problems like baking consultants and contractors into a part of the federal management process.
But I’m most ticked off by how the report asks for $2.5B to fast-track the Orlando-Tampa rail corridor and has the Charlotte-Atlanta corridor as a second-tier project idea, but doesn’t mention the Raleigh-Richmond-DC corridor at all???
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Raleigh-Richmond corridor ironically probably the best value per mile given it’s all flat, rural land with no very wide rivers or other obstacles in the way.
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The line does cross Lake Gaston. I’m not certain how much work the existing single-track bridge will require.
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Probably beam construction like the old bridge. It’s the cheapest type of bridge to design and build.
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I hope not. The route chosen in the federally-required Environmental Impact Study says trains should run up to 110mph there, so I don’t think a beam bridge would cut it.
From Fig. 1-4 in the Tier II FEIS/ROD:
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I’m surprised to hear they’re not planning to double-track that whole corridor.
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Same. But that study also assumes the Raleigh-Richmond-DC line is publicly funded, runs up to 4 times a day (see PDF pg. 41), and probably won’t have to compete for time slots with lots of freight traffic.
With those assumptions, NCDoT and VDOT are probably just trying to get the most while spending the least amount of tax money 
yay fiscal cheapness…
With the passing sidings, approximately 50 percent of the corridor will be double tracked. That should be more than enough for the time being.
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So I just attended a free Southeast Rail Forum webinar. Wasn’t super familiar with SRF prior to this session, but it appears to be a conference that is generally held once every two years regarding passenger rail in the Southeast. If I understand correctly, the full conference was postponed due to COVID and will now be held virtually in Spring 2021. In the meantime, they’ve been holding webinars, the second of which was today (a third and final webinar is scheduled for some time in January). Today’s webinar featured two presenters from NCDOT: Julie White and Jason Orthner.
All that being said, here’s what I learned about the status of SEHSR:
- The NCDOT team that’s been assembled for this project seems to be a bit more diverse than usual for a Rail Division project in terms of expertise. Julie mentioned several times that they are seeking to take a multimodal approach to S-Line development, specifically mentioning biking, trails, transit, and land use planning. There seems to be a heavy emphasis on TOD for the corridor, and the team is working with local partners (MPOs and governing bodies) to determine needs and demands.
- Bit more detail on the TOD side: Julie mentioned that transit-oriented development has a track record of good returns on investment and that NCDOT has historically not taken advantage of that. For this project, they’d like to reevaluate that approach and have already begun communicating with developers regarding parcels along the corridor that are adjacent to their properties. Two specific examples that were cited were Hoffman’s Seaboard Station redevelopment and Spectrum’s Midtown properties (namely the Wegmans development).
- The team is paying very close attention to what is going on in Washington currently. Stimulus packages were mentioned several times by both presenters, and they seem to have high hopes for something coming through the pipeline in the near future. They also mentioned that they’ve been looking into both FRA and FTA funding options.
- The first question during the Q&A segment was, of course, regarding the timeline, and, of course, they didn’t have specifics. They did mention that they expect some preliminary design opportunities in the next year or so, and Jason specifically noted that they are “in a position to advance fairly quickly once funding is made available.” The words “steady progress” were used multiple times, and they heavily emphasized that the S-Line acquisitions being made by Virginia and North Carolina have set them up for a lot of future movement.
- They also mentioned taking a more incremental approach to projects on the corridor. Julie said that the team is focusing on the possibility of some “early quick wins,” such as pilot programs to Sanford or Wake Forest. Jason also noted that they are looking into the possibility of extending current services like the Piedmont up the S-Line and mentioned spare fleet vehicles that NCDOT currently owns (I’m wondering if he’s referring to the circus cars in the woods out east, or if he’s talking about the current Piedmont fleet, which is going to be replaced thanks to two FRA grants).
- One attendee asked about cooperation from CSX, and Julie cited the CCX Intermodal Terminal project in Rocky Mount as the foundation for what has become a great working relationship with CSX. She also noted that the full S-Line build-out will alleviate congestion on the A-Line, so this is a win-win for both parties, and CSX seems to recognize that.
- Lastly, near the beginning of the presentation, the presenters mentioned that their long-term vision for the Southeast Corridor Commission (the organization leading this effort) is to become something reminiscent of what currently exists for the NEC. My interpretation of this is that the SCC essentially becomes a fourth arm of Amtrak, much like how the Northeast Corridor has it’s own corporate structure and leadership within the company. I might be reading into that statement a bit too much, but it’s an interesting thought.
And finally, here’s a couple slides I snagged from the presentation. Nothing too new, but I figured they were worth sharing.
Here’s hoping for good news in January. My apologies in advance if I misunderstood anything that was said during the presentation; this is merely an area of interest for me, not an area of expertise.
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??? This is first I’ve heard of SHSR going through Sanford. Thought I was going to follow the NC Railway line to Charlotte. This looks more like a commuter line.
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It wouldn’t, but the S-Line runs to Sanford, so NCDOT is looking at extending their intercity services to Sanford in light of this purchase.
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You all may have seen that Chapel Hill’s NSBRT Corridor was one of nine projects that were awarded funding by the FTA to be used for transit-oriented development. What you may not have seen is that one of the other nine awards went to NCDOT for thirteen S-Line stations between Sanford and Henderson. So I guess Jason and Julie really meant it when they said that NCDOT is looking at implementing TOD around SEHSR stations.
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TOD — Time Of Day ???
Transit-oriented developments. Think of them like stores, apartments, restaurants etc. that are specifically designed so you have several ways to get there (driving, bus, bike, walking,…).
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tried looking on this very cool map of all the NC railroad lines, but didn’t find: is there a list of proposed stops between Sanford and Henderson?
I’m sure Raleigh Union Station is the center of the N/S commuter(?) rail plan.
From this cool whole-state of NC RR map, I deduce
- Sanford
- Apex
- Cary
- Raleigh
- Wake Forest
- Henderson
But that’s only 6, how do they get to 13 stations from South to North? Anyone know what’s planned for this study?
Guess they could add stations or go farther north and south than Sanford/Henderson to pick up Southern Pines and all the was to the SC line towards the South and up to Norlina to the North (but I thought from Norlina it went farther North into VA to connect to Petersburg & Richmond?).
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I’d assume more than 1 stop for the larger urban areas. If this is still the most up-to-date plan, looks like for the proposed East-West commuter rail, there are something like five stops in Raleigh, two in Cary, three in Durham, etc.
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I think it’s much simpler: the map Colby posted last month has 13 stops drawn between Petersburg, VA and Hamlet.
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In case anyone is curious, here’s NCDOT’s press release regarding this grant. Looks like Apex, Franklinton, Henderson, Raleigh, Sanford, and Wake Forest all contributed matching funds.
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I think it’s even simpler than that, actually. The other map @colbyjd3 posted has 12 stops between Henderson and Sanford. As best as I can tell they are:
Henderson
Franklinton
Downtown Wake Forest
NC-98
Capital Boulevard
Durant Road
(something unreadable presumed to be near Spring Forest and TTC)
Six Forks/Wake Forest Road
Peace Street
Raleigh Union Station
Apex
Sanford
There’s no way this is the complete list of stations along a possible commuter rail between Sanford and Henderson though—you can’t just completely avoid NCSU or Cary the way this map does. I’m guessing the 12 stations only include those not already being studied in the Wake Transit proposal for CRT, since some could be shared across lines.
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