North Carolina Intercity Rail Transit

[tozmervo]

WFAE reports this evening that an agreement between NC and Amtrak has been reached on funding.

[kermit]

^ pshew!

 

here is the NCDOT press release: https://apps.ncdot.gov/NewsReleases/details.aspx?r=8829

[kermit]

Train 75/76 had five coaches plus the combi car today (Sunday).

 

If NCDOT sold all of the coaches (and they may have, there was a Panthers home game) then this means that the Piedmont service now has been run with roughly the same capacity as the Carolinian at peak periods.

 

With ridership spikes like this it looks to me like the Carolinian really needs two (?) more coaches on a regular basis, the Charlotte storage / maintenance yard can't come soon enough

[kermit]

Grading crews were getting their bearings on the NCRR along Old Concord Road near UNCC this morning in preparation for the double tracking.

[kermit]

Trackwork on the Atando wye in Charlotte means that the Piedmonts have been running in push-pull configuration.

[kermit]

Anyone know if NC used some of the reallocated cash devoted to equipment to wifi installation? It was at the top of the unfunded list in the last go round of federal grants.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

AMTRAK has released a web mapping application on their homepage that shows the location and status of all its trains across the nation. Pretty cool feature. Check out the northbound Carolinian this morning:

 

[kermit]

Per RR.net

 

 

I've read they [NCDOT] are planning on buying 7 more used F59PHs (ex-GO), 2 to be refurbish as locomotives and 5 to be rebuilt as Cabbage cars. NCDOT would then own 2 F59PHIs, 6 F59PHs, and 5 F59 Cabbage cars. Their rolling stock roster would eventually have 7 66 seats coaches, 7 56 seats coaches, 1 38 seat coach/baggage, and 5 lounge/baggage cars. That will be 20 trailers to go with 8 locomotives and 5 cabs.

 

In addition, I saw #75 arrive in Charlotte this afternoon. Two locomotives were pulling six coaches plus the baggage / lounge combination. Given the date (Sunday after Thanksgiving) this may be indicative of present peak demand.

[kermit]

Work is progressing on the ARRA double tracking. Trees have been cut in preperation for grading between Junker (Mallard creek rd to be precise) to Hadrock (the Phillip Morris siding). Grading (and bridging) looks to be complete for a short section of track just south of SAL as well.)

Nice to see progress.

Edit: grading also looks complete between the Yadkin bridge and the entrance to Linwood yard. Based on appearances alone the grading looks sufficient to accommodate a third track in the future.

Edited December 14, 2013 by kermit

[kermit]

There is a nice Rail Division powerpoint that has project updates and construction photos of the PIP program from mid December.

 

http://www.ncdot.gov/board/bot/committees/multimodal/Rail_Update.pdf

[kermit]

The PIP double tracking which was funded by ARRA is moving along nicely. Crews just began to cut trees on the last section of the project -- along Old Concord rd in Charlotte (just east of Junker). Based on a few glances from recent rides on the Piedmont and Carolinian it appears that grading is mostly complete from Salisbury East and grading is now underway in the Harrisburg area. The Charlotte section has some small topographic challenges but I believe that this work will move quickly.

 

I discovered a side benefit of the grade separation work when riding through the ice storm this past weekend. When the power is out, none of the crossing gates work. This means the train has to stop at each crossing -- makes for a very long ride.

Edited March 10, 2014 by kermit

[kermit]

The long-range transportation plan for the National Capital Region Planning Board includes substantial improvements for Virginal Railway Express. One of their highest priority items (but, paradoxically, not yet funded) is improvements to Long Bridge over the Potomac. This is important to NC intercity rail since any significant increase in the number of trains bound from NC to anywhere north of Alexandria (i.e. any SEHSR service) will require additional bridge capacity. Having both the DC area regional council of governments and the state of Virginia pushing for these improvements (for more intercity service to Lynchburg and Norfolk) will help in the process of finding funding. 

 

http://www.mwcog.org/clrp/projects/new/proposed_2014.asp

[orulz]

Long bridge is currently being studied. They are considering several alternatives that would drastically increase the scope and cost of the project.

The baseline "build" alternative is a 4-track replacement bridge with a pedestrian path. Other alternatives add streetcar tracks, general purpose lanes, or both. Yet another alternative would put all four tracks in a tunnel, which I find to be an extremely expensive and pointless proposition.

[InitialD]

 

[kermit]

While I don't generally look at Amtrak's ridership figures I do regularly see the Piedmont equipment roll by as it leaves Charlotte. Based on appearances over the past 3-4 months it appears the days of the two coach (plus combi baggage / lounge) Piedmont consist are coming to an end. I have seen a handful of two coach trains on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but three coaches appears to be the new standard consist. Today (a Friday towards the end of the UNC System schedule) the 74 was dragging four coaches, and every seat looked filled.

 

I do believe that ridership will really spike when the new frequencies are finally added.

[kermit]

NCDOT is currently soliciting proposals to develop and certify a dual fuel EMD 710 locomotive (diesel and natural gas). While the engineering process which the RFP focuses on is not my area I did think it was interesting that one of the goals of the NCDOT research program was to reduce locomotive emissions in order to qualify for Federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) funding for rail operation.

[kermit]

A bit of good news for SEHSR and increased service from NC to the NE Corridor: The DC DOT has been awarded a $2.8 million TIGER grant to study the Long Bridge replacement over the Potomac. This bridge is currently at capacity and prevents any new service between VA and DC and points north. The bridge has gotta be replaced before SEHSR can get moving.

 

A different (and tiny -- $200,000) TIGER grant was awarded to the NCDOT rail division for:

 

 

a multi-modal corridor study to look at ways to improve transit connections and stations along the Carolinian and Piedmont rail lines

 

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/TIGER-VI-Grants---NRC-Special-Bulletin.html?soid=1106103828154&aid=h4wzRQVl2ks

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Two states see slow start for fast trains between Raleigh and Richmond

 

It sounds as if North Carolina and Virginia are not envisioning "high speed" rail anytime soon. However, they are wanting to proceed with restoring the former SAL line to Richmond with a top speed of 79 mph. Basically, it sounds like they want to restore the route along the existing roadbed and without grade separations to cut down on the estimated $4 billion cost. Bridges and rights-of-way ain't cheap. They want to have a plan by 2017 for cost/benefit and future improvements.

 

I don't think they're going to reach their 2018-2022 goal for high speed rail service.

[kermit]

Big day for Piedmont's #73, #74 and #76 today. NCDOT runs special "Panthers" trains on game days so the morning run 73 and 74 had four coaches plus the combi car. I was on 74 (leaves Charlotte at noon -- opposite from Panthers traffic) and it was essentially full the whole run. I got to see #76 in Greensboro on my way home, it had five coaches (plus the combi) and it was also full. The significant part of this is that five coaches is the same number that the Carolinian runs from CLT-NYP -- so on special event days NCDOT runs three trains each way with essentially equal capacity between CLT -- RGH. I haven't looked at ridership data in a while but anecdotally things seem good.

 

NCDOT was also conducting surveys on board the #74 where they asked lots of questions about last mile transportation.

 

Double tracking is proceeding nicely. Trains are running on new rail at the Old Concord / UNCC curve (the old rail was removed in prep for redoing curve geometry) and rail appears to be nearly ready to go in the Lexington area but there is still a good bit of grading to do around Hadrock.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

 I haven't looked at ridership data in a while but anecdotally things seem good.

 

                                                                     RIDERSHIP                                                                        TICKET REVENUE

 

Service                    FY14      FY13 Adj.*      FY13              % chg          % chg                       FY14                       FY 13                % chg

                                                                                           FY14 vs        FY14 vs                                                                            FY14 vs

                           FY13adj.      FY13                                                                                 FY13

Carolinian              302,601     319,380       317,550         -5.5%              -4.7%               $19,136,311            $19,481,847            -1.8%

Piedmont               170,413     179,556       170,266         -5.4%                0.1%                $3,402,929              $3,325,945              2.3%

 

*In FY14, Amtrak began counting actual lifted ridership for multi-ride tickets (due to eTicketing), rather than the estimated multi-ride ridership used previously. To ensure accurate comparisons, an FY13 ridership column has been included in this report with data re-stated using this same method. This change has no impact on ticket revenues.

 

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/238/481/Amtrak-FY2014-Ridership-and-Revenue-ATK-14-096%20.pdf

 

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/730/658/FY13-Record-Ridership-ATK-13-122.pdf

 

*Edit: Not sure why the forum has a paste from Word option if it's not going to work.

Edited November 29, 2014 by cowboy_wilhelm

[tozmervo]

Came across this image today. It made me sad. 

[kermit]

The Executive Summary of the state 25 year rail plan has been released.

 

There is good news:

• Piedmont wifi for next year
• Long-range studies for Gboro-DC (via Lynchburg), Raleigh to Hampton Roads (?), CLT to Wilmington, Raleigh to Greenville, Raleigh to Morehead CIty
• Money for a Hillsborough station in 2018
• Money for stations in Lexington and Harrisburg long term (2020-2035)

and bad news:

• Gateway station (Charlotte) budgeted for 2020-2035 at the soonest
• 4th Piedmont frequency delayed to 2017-1018 (this was originally scheduled 'upon completion of ARRA work' which is getting close to done.
• 5th frequency 2019

While I am very disappointed with several aspects of the plan (as described in the exec summary), I guess it could have been worse

 

www.ncbytrain.org/_resources/download/RailPlanExecutiveSummary.pdf

[kdub1]

The Executive Summary of the state 25 year rail plan has been released.

 

There is good news:

• Piedmont wifi for next year
• Long-range studies for Gboro-DC (via Lynchburg), Raleigh to Hampton Roads (?), CLT to Wilmington, Raleigh to Greenville, Raleigh to Morehead CIty
• Money for a Hillsborough station in 2018
• Money for stations in Lexington and Harrisburg long term (2020-2035)

and bad news:

• Gateway station (Charlotte) budgeted for 2020-2035 at the soonest
• 4th Piedmont frequency delayed to 2017-1018 (this was originally scheduled 'upon completion of ARRA work' which is getting close to done.
• 5th frequency 2019

While I am very disappointed with several aspects of the plan (as described in the exec summary), I guess it could have been worse

 

www.ncbytrain.org/_resources/download/RailPlanExecutiveSummary.pdf

 

Talk about disappointing! Given how crowded and crappy the current Charlotte station is, one would have thought that there'd at least be some foresight to build a scaled down version of Gateway Station. NCDOT should have planned Charlotte-Douglas Airport as a relief station until Gateway could be built--Harrisburg is only a small step. The delays to Piedmont expansion makes me wonder if those funding issues are the reason for them because the fact that neither the fourth nor the fifth frequency will be rolled out on time makes no sense.

 

If the state's leadership--DOT, General Assembly, etc--don't watch it, NC could go from being a leader on rail to becoming a laggard.

[mallguy]

I'm still not understanding why anything more than a station like a NYC-area commuter railroad station (but with a larger waiting area) needs to be built.  Even with a 5th Piedmont, Charlotte will have 14 trains a day, and even if the Red Line is built, Charlotte would have maybe 50 trains a day. There is no need to build a Grand Central Terminal-size station for that.  Just a few tracks and decent-size waiting area would work fine.

[ajfunder]

^Gateway is supposed to be a multi modal hub, with Greyhound, an underground city bus terminal, streetcar, and possibly light rail/BRT all integrated into one hub. The goal is for Gateway not to be just a transportation hub, but a place to live, work, and play as well. While a simple, improved train station may be sufficient for Amtrak, it is not sufficient to fulfill the goal of creating a true multi modal hub which is appealing to the entire community. Think Denver's Union Station which only has two intercity trains a day, but it has become a community hotspot already in the few months it has been open.

I am perfectly fine with a temporary replacement Amtrak station, but for the long term, a true multi modal hub is absolutely necessary to advance Charlottes transportation infrastructure.