174 replies to this topic

[transitman]

cityboi, on Nov 16 2006, 12:44 PM, said:

it looks like more and more people are riding the PART buses. Thats an indication that we are getting closer to having enough riders to support a regional rail system. I think the rail should connect Piedmont Triad Intl Airport with Smith Reynolds Airport. I think Smith Reynolds should serve a more important role in the area.

PTI is dying, and Smith Reynolds has no passenger service.  The rail system would be much more productive serving downtowns, universities, hospitals, and malls.

[cityboi]

transitman, on Nov 21 2006, 10:46 AM, said:

PTI is dying, and Smith Reynolds has no passenger service.  The rail system would be much more productive serving downtowns, universities, hospitals, and malls.

I dont think PTI will ever die because the Triad will always be large enough to sustain an international airport. I think as the Triad's economy starts getting better, we'll see more airport business at PTI. but you are right about the rail serving downtowns, univerities and so on. But they should also be connected with the airports.

[TheDash]

cityboi, on Nov 22 2006, 10:36 AM, said:

I dont think PTI will ever die because the Triad will always be large enough to sustain an international airport. I think as the Triad's economy starts getting better, we'll see more airport business at PTI. but you are right about the rail serving downtowns, univerities and so on. But they should also be connected with the airports.

I think if PTI fails they should make Smith Reynolds Airport better and have all flights out of Smith Reynolds.

[JerseyBoy]

TheDash, on Nov 25 2006, 06:37 PM, said:

I think if PTI fails they should make Smith Reynolds Airport better and have all flights out of Smith Reynolds.

Greensboro (and the Triad as a whole) has too much invested into PTI to let Smith Reynolds one-up them.

[ezcheese]

GTA will start running busses every 30 minutes starting january 2nd.

http://www.greensbor.../divisions/gta/

hopefully this will lead to more people riding greensboro's busses. if you haven't taken the bus in greensboro yet, you should definitely consider it after january 2nd. the busses are clean and surprisingly quiet compared to other busses i have ridden.

[orulz]

Way to go, Greensboro, this is a good step.

Raleigh needs to learn a lesson from you. In Raleigh, No routes have better than 30-minute frequencies at rush hour, and No routes come more often than every 60 minutes at mid-day and in the evening. Some come every 60 minutes (or worse!) all day long.

Raleigh has repeatedly shown that low property taxes are a far, far higher priority to the city than transit. Guess that's what we get for being the home of the venerable John Locke Foundation.

[suburban george3]

TheDash, on Nov 25 2006, 06:37 PM, said:

I think if PTI fails they should make Smith Reynolds Airport better and have all flights out of Smith Reynolds.

If PTI fails(which is highly unlikely, diminished importance is a much more realistic outcome), all passenger traffic would go to Charlotte or Raleigh/Durham.  Smith Reynolds, while at one time the busiest airport in the state back in the day (probably before either of our lives started), is now pretty much relegated to corporate and general aviation.  Outside of charter flights, I don't see scheduled service ever coming back to Smith Reynolds.

(However, I'd love Winston-Salem's growth to take off to the point where you see some flights to say Newark, DC, or Chicago!  One can dream)

[ezcheese]

greensboro's busses are now running every 30 minutes during the week! fares have been raised to $1.10 from $1.00.

[suburban george3]

Davidson Co. is looking into starting PART service in their county.  Since Greyhound has quit servicing Lexington, there is no transportation service out of the county for anyone who doesn't own an automobile.  The first step is for Davidson Country to pass a car rental tax.

WSJ article about Davidson Co. adding PART service

[TheDash]

whats the latest on the streetcar plan???

[cityboi]

another set of rail tracks will be laid down to connect Greensboro and High Point. This will certainly help out in the future when the Triad gets commuter rail. it will be a $20 million project.

http://www.news-reco...EC0101/70501022

Edited by cityboi, 01 May 2007 - 08:39 AM.

[nowensone]

Would be nice if they said where exactly they are to be routed.  I think it would be incredible to dedicate a line to commuter rail parallel to the heavy rail line along southern HP Road into Jamestown and HP and make a stop at the old JP campus and turn this area into something VERY cool and different.

[cityboi]

nowensone, on May 1 2007, 08:47 AM, said:

Would be nice if they said where exactly they are to be routed.  I think it would be incredible to dedicate a line to commuter rail parallel to the heavy rail line along southern HP Road into Jamestown and HP and make a stop at the old JP campus and turn this area into something VERY cool and different.

That would be very cool!

[nowensone]

^ A little off subject, I went down there Sunday with camera and got shooed away by someone doing something at the JP campus, not sure what (no heavy equipment), I was going to ask the lady but she was not happy I pulled down into that first side entrance where she was parked.  At any rate, might have been nothing, but it was hopeful to see [potentially] something happening there.  It is appalling for this campus to sit there, becoming overgrown like this, almost like letting the Biltmore get rundown IMO.

So is there any indication of where a second line would go?  I had heard a while ago (second hand) of plans to rerout HP Road for some of the length between GSO into HP, which seems incredibly wasteful and stupid, but if part of a master plan to add a transit line then that might make a little more sense.

[orulz]

The article is misleading. There is no new routing. This is merely the installation of a second track parallel to the existing Norfolk-Southern (former Southern) mainline. Think of this as widening a highway within the existing right-of-way.

The whole Southern mainline was historically double track clear from Alexandria to Atlanta, but it was converted to alternating sections of double- and single- track between the 1950s and the 1970s. The space between Greensboro and High Point happened to be one of the segments that got the single-track treatment. NCRR and the NCDOT are now simply undoing this damage. At the rate we're moving, by 2010, all the segments of single track between Charlotte and Greensboro (four segments, totaling 34.9 miles) will be restored to double track.

My source is this post on railfan.net.

[nowensone]

^ Thanks.  There appears to be ample space to add parallel tracks in the area I am familiar with (except for a few notable intersections and under I-40), though regarding rerouting, I wasn't thinking rerouting so much as what is the minimum seperation required between heavy and passenger tracks if their use became separated?  Or is that not how this works?

[orulz]

Hm. I think you may be a bit confused on the terminology.

First, Heavy Rail != Freight Rail.

The existing tracks are Freght Rail, not Heavy Rail.

1. Heavy rail is like the Subway in New York, or MARTA in Atlanta. Grade-separated rail transit with gated platforms which you must pay to enter. These are regulated by the FTA.
2. Freight rail, or simply railroads, are regulated by the FRA and can support all kinds of traffic. Freight trains, Passenger (Amtrak) trains, and commuter trains can all share a railroad, they just have to meet certain crashworthiness and interchangability standards. The (eventual) PART rail system is proposed in this category.

As the tracks through Greensboro are multipurpose, and can accommodate both freight and passenger traffic, there is no particular restriction for space between tracks beyond clearances. Generallly, parallel tracks are laid with somewhere between 13' and 16' center-to-center (wider in curves).

[nowensone]

^ Yes, confused, have seen reference to heavy rail on this site when talking about subway systems, assumed Heavy and Freight were the same thing.  Thank you for the clarification.

[former-ga-girl]

North Carolina Railroad is thinking about new commuter trains that could serve the Triangle and the Triad from Burlington to Goldsboro. It is publish in today's News & Observer.

http://www.newsobser...ory/647336.html

[Creasy336]

Its great to see the NCRR start getting involved with commuter rail in the state of North Carolina.  According to the site the NCRR would look at serving Triad commuters from Clemmons to Burlington, and Triangle Commuters from Burlington to Goldsboro.  I am curious to see if the two regions would be broken up with a transfer in Burlington or just one commuter line.  I would have to imagine having the regions broken up would be more convenient with fewer delays and better schedules.