Replying to Richmond to Raleigh SEHSR Plans

Not to mention 91, 92, 97, 98 and the Auto Train.

Yes it will help them too, but the crunch that NCDOT wants to remedy is the meet points for 79-90, 89-80, and 89-90.

Not to mention 91, 92, 97, 98 and the Auto Train.

The Amtrak station was built in 1950 when Raleigh was one-sixth its current size and Southern Railway operated fewer passenger trains through Raleigh than Amtrak does today. Everyone agrees that replacing the current station is urgent. From the perspective of freight, CSX and NS don't like the status quo either, so they're supportive of improvements.

Over the long run, the new facility will be expandable for SEHSR (if it ever happens) or commuter trains within a 50-mile radius (if they ever happen), and it will dovetail with a long-delayed light rail initiative. But the near-term focus is a station that will suffice for 91/92, 79/80, and the Piedmonts -- which will get an additional frequency when the station will allow it.

The list of ARRA projects is at the NCDOT Rail website, www.bytrain.org. Although moneys were allocated, not many projects have started yet. The one I'm anxious to see will add intermediate crossovers on several sections of CSX A-line double track between Rocky Mount and the NC/VA line. This is a highly congested segment that handles 79, 80, 89, 90 at roughly the same time every day.

I think the newspaper article covers the status reasonably well. AFAIK, the new Raleigh train station was not part of the NC HSIPR ARRA grants, because the plans for the station have only recently come into focus. The plans for the station call for a high level platform serving 2 pullover tracks, with the platform 800' long to accommodate the Silver Star. The city will have to obtain or line up the remainder of the funding for the new station complex.

The links on the right side of the webpage for the Raliegh Passenger Rail Task Force provide information on how the station plans evolved and what they are now. Look at the NCDOT Viaduct Building Assessment presentation to see the specifics on the proposed changes to the track configuration and station.

I saw an article in the News & Observer that Raleigh won a TIGER grant for signal upgrades on their tracks (a pre-req for a new station). Riding the train into Raleigh these days is a mess. The train blocks the street so passengers can't get picked up. You have to get picked up because there is no bus or shuttle or even a sidewalk.
Can someone fill in the steps for me please: Step 1 = signal upgrades, Step 2 = ???, Step 3 = new station (???) THANK YOU!

http://www.newsobser...on-federal.html

Also, is there any ARRA money set aside for this? Was there and it's already been spent?

What is this with transit projects collapsing like houses of cards? First the Talgos, then the new slow orders on the NS Michigan line, now the instabilities in the RF&P 3rd track project, and right here in my own backyard, people are trying to shut down a referendum almost because it doesn't deliver trains to their front doors within 2 months!

There is a local news article on the stalled status of the $75 million project to build a 3rd track on the RF&P line from Arkendale to Powell's Creek. Rather depressing that VA and the FRA have not even had a meeting since February 2011 on getting a deal signed off on with CSX. A lot of finger pointing. Amtrak and VRE could use the 3rd track to make progress on a 3rd track from Alexandria to Fredericksburg as a first phase of an improved DC to Richmond segment.

One caveat is that this is a Washington Examiner article which is a right tilted newspaper which has frequently posted articles with a critical / waste of money slant for mass and public transit projects (DC Metro Silver Line, Purple Line, streetcars, etc).

By the same logic, North Carolina shouldn't have started intra-state passenger service over 81 miles of dark territory that was effectively 49 mph (that's how the highways crossings were timed at the outset). Years and $100M later -- which goes to show "later" and "never" aren't the same -- North Carolina has progressed to 79 mph on its way to 90 mph, one step at a time.

The notion that passenger service must be a "big bang" doesn't work, at least not everywhere. By the way, all the curve straightening on the S-line -- at several hundred million dollars of incremental cost -- will cut about 20 minutes off a trip that will still take four hours for Raleigh-Washington. Worth it? I don't think so.

Worth it in a vacuum? Possibly not. Worth it in the context of likely improvements along the RVR-WAS corridor as well (at least as I understand some of VA's plans)? Yes.

And I think (hopefully), that what hasn't been mentioned is that the improvements should not only lead to higher speeds but to higher consistent speed. Having sat in the Carolinian waiting for slow moving freights, I would expect that the improvements would dramatically reduce those. So while the scheduled time may be reduced by 20 minutes, if the worst case time were reduced by hours and the average time reduced by more than the theoretical 20 minutes, that would be a real benefit. One might even see the scheduled times reduced even more than 20 minutes if the slack due to known slowdowns was no longer needed.

Germany restored all of the old pre-1939 lines to run the I.C.E. on

Germany had the money. We don't. Just be prepared for a long, long wait.

Funding is at least 10 years out, probably 20. Personally I'd rather see them first restore the S-line the way it was and then upgrade it later. By the way, the current view is that CSX would run some freight Petersburg-Norlina-Raleigh too.

Because Germany restored all of the old pre-1939 lines to run the I.C.E. on.... that makes total sense.