Raleigh Union Station

[RALNATIVE]

Wow!!!

 

This is going to be nicer than what I had envisioned. This will definitely help to boost the city's transportation profile.

[Jones_]

I think it's already started on some level as all the corrugated plastic along the top of the building was removed a few months ago...possibly other cleanup as well....the vegetation north of it was removed too (its a cool look at one the sets of tracks the old passenger trains would have backed into old Union Station on actually)

I see the Dillion warehouse at the NE corner of Martin and West is drawn with storefronts! Wouldn't that be nice....and retail-ish stuff in the Club Bodi space would be nice too. 

Edited September 11, 2014 by Jones_

[RALNATIVE]

This reminds me of several train stations that i've seen in Europe. Very forward thinking for a southern city. Raleigh is certainly becoming a world-class city.

[49er]

Great job Raleigh!! That is one nice looking project. 

[RALNATIVE]

I did a quick internet search on world class cities in the US, and interestingly enough Raleigh was included in a poll of world class cities:

 

http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/77017-cities-us-do-you-consider-truly.html

[DanRNC]

Pretty impressive! 

[Euphorius]

I did a quick internet search on world class cities in the US, and interestingly enough Raleigh was included in a poll of world class cities:

 

http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/77017-cities-us-do-you-consider-truly.html

GaWC already has Raleigh listed as a gamma world city. http://www.lboro.com/gawc/world2012t.html

Edited September 11, 2014 by Euphorius

[Captain Awesome]

I did a quick internet search on world class cities in the US, and interestingly enough Raleigh was included in a poll of world class cities:

 

http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/77017-cities-us-do-you-consider-truly.html

17 Raleigh residents voting on City-Data?

Edited September 11, 2014 by Captain Awesome

[RALNATIVE]

17 Raleigh residents voting on City-Data?

 

Probably all of us who posts here on Urban Planet? LOL

[orulz]

While the building itself will be fantastic I just can't shake some of my misgivings about the nuts and bolts of the design from a transportation perspective.

 

(1) This will be a LONG walk for anyone to get to the platforms from downtown proper (or alternatively, to the city from the platforms.) You will have to walk all the way to the back of the building, and then jog back the other way down the concourse.

(2) They are only planning for two island platforms and THREE tracks, not two island platforms and FOUR tracks. Seems extra tracks could come in useful as NCRR commuter service as well as all the current and planned intercity trains will have to use them.

[RALNATIVE]

I think that I read somewhere that Union Station was being designed so that additional tracks could be added in the future to support high speed rail and light rail.

[ctl]

Light rail, no. Commuter rail, yes (but note Orulz' concerns which I share). High speed rail, yes.

 

Of course the city still hasn't figured out a parking solution for the new station. Wait for further info, they say. 

Edited September 12, 2014 by ctl

[staffer]

as to the number of tracks, these are ALL separated station tracks, the freight tracks are not shown on the diagrams.  In addition, if we get HSR north to Richmond and Washington, while they will use the same station, the HSR track will be separate and on the WEST side of the building on the CSX line

[cowboy_wilhelm]

While the building itself will be fantastic I just can't shake some of my misgivings about the nuts and bolts of the design from a transportation perspective.

(1) This will be a LONG walk for anyone to get to the platforms from downtown proper (or alternatively, to the city from the platforms.) You will have to walk all the way to the back of the building, and then jog back the other way down the concourse.

(2) They are only planning for two island platforms and THREE tracks, not two island platforms and FOUR tracks. Seems extra tracks could come in useful as NCRR commuter service as well as all the current and planned intercity trains will have to use them.

 

Is the passenger concourse going to be below grade or elevated? I think the arrows in the public hearing map below are indicating that it will go below the tracks, but it looks like there simply isn't enough room for a fourth track between the two platforms, which is unfortunate. However, once SEHSR is implemented, the only Amtrak trains that will be at the H-Line platforms will be the Piedmont service and maybe the Carolinian, if it still exists then. Amtrak service to the northeast will utilize the future S-Line platform, which should help free up space for commuter service at the H-Line platforms. Maybe they can come up with a way to squeeze the track in before then.

 

NCDOT Public Hearing Map that I somehow haven't seen yet.

 

And speaking of the S-Line, I didn't realize that CSXT is moving to a single track inside the radius of the current double track. This should allow room for an elevated platform on the S-Line, which was shown in earlier plans as being a low platform between the two CSX tracks.

Edited September 12, 2014 by cowboy_wilhelm

[ctl]

First indication I've seen that the existing Amtrak station will be removed, although I'm not surprised. Don't know what they think can be built on the small triangle of land after the site is cleared.

 

Makes sense to reduce the CSX freight line (also used by some NS freight trains) north of the Boylan interlocking to a single track. It does reduce to a single track between Morgan and Hillsborough. The reduction could have been done years ago, but the Boylan interlocking needed an additional crossover. That's part of the plan now.

[DanRNC]

Union Station just got some more cash for design upgrades. 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2014/10/13/raleighs-union-station-receives-1-5m-federal-grant.html

 

Raleigh needs to ride this momentum and get local transit on track.

[ctl]

The Planning Commission approved the site plan today. Parking remains a concern.

[Justin6882]

Here's the latest from the N&O. Due to increased land and construction costs, the city needs to come up with another $16mil or find ways to downsize it. Seems like there is city council support to go forward with spending more money. The city manager is coming back later with final recommendations. 

[Justin6882]

Sweet! More stuff that'll rock...

In 5 years.

Make that 10 or 11!

 

Hard to believe we've been talking about this (and Dix for that matter) for almost a decade.

[ctl]

Scope creep has been a problem in this project all along. In 2012 the price tag was $60 million.  Now it's up to $84 million. That's a 40% increase in less than three years, and I'm not certain that the $84M figure has credibility. Somebody at City Hall had better get a grip on this. I support the project but this kind of escalation makes the City look incompetent.

Edited January 20, 2015 by ctl

[Jones_]

Ask CliffyB to throw some of his millions at it....

[RALNATIVE]

It sounds like the city has voted to approve the budget overruns, as well as tweak the budget so that there will be no significant changes to the current plan: 

 

http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/03/03/4596446_raleigh-tackles-downtown-questions.html?rh=1

Edited March 3, 2015 by RALNATIVE

[Atowwn]

I'm just glad they didn't nickel and dime us this time. It looks like we may finally have some good leadership.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Atowwn

[NcSc74]

Concerning the first part of that article I had to chuckle to myself. Lets get this straight; Raleigh is voted one of the best place to find a job for young professionals, best place to start a business, best places to live etc....and these council folk wonder why young people fill the streets at all times of the night. Let me guess they want downtown to look and feel like Mayberry instead of Manchester(a bit of hyperbole) I know but NC's old folk attitude really irks me.

[RALNATIVE]

Let me guess they want downtown to look and feel like Mayberry instead of Manchester(a bit of hyperbole) I know but NC's old folk attitude really irks me.

 

You're not alone on this. Fortunately it's not the majority of Raleighites that feel this way. It's mainly the older generations that remember Raleigh being a conservative small southern city and will do anything to try and keep it that way. Atlanta struggled with similar problems back in the day and look how things turned out in that city. Progress can't be halted indefinitely.