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Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements


dubone

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Time to start using Gateway Station as a centerpiece catalyst for the redevelopment of North End? Tie the platforms to the BLE platforms, and watch North Tryon become a destination.

 

Taking the train to the middle of midtown Manhattan is the draw to not flying or driving.  While this isn't Manhattan, you could easily complete with car trips within North Carolina.  Nobody drives to almost Uptown to then take a train or bus, folks go the entire way.  This will be the same for rail transit.

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Alright all, I finally got a detailed, definitive response from NCDOT on the status of the grade seperation at ADM, Gateway Station and what NC DOT is working on to move things forward:

The Federal Railroad Administration and the North Carolina Department of Transportation have determined that the Charlotte CSXT/Norfolk Southern Railroads Mainline Grade Separation project will not go forward at this time. This decision has been made based on budget and time constraints that would not allow NCDOT to complete the project prior to the federally mandated completion deadline of September 30, 2017. More information about the discontinuance of this project will be made public in the next 30 days.

With regard to the separate Charlotte Gateway Station project it is not dependent on completion of the Mainline Grade Separation project. However NCDOT has been directed by the North Carolina General Assembly to put the project on hold until such time that special legislation is crafted and approved by the NCGA that would allow the Department to seek private participation in the station project, a Public Private Partnership (3P). At this time State Law does not allow the Department of Transportation to enter into a 3P for a transit oriented multimodal station projects. NCDOT is working with the NCGA to address this matter. In the meantime NCDOT, along with the City of Charlotte and CATS, will be working with Norfolk Southern to perform train capacity modeling studies to determine the necessary level of track and signal infrastructure improvements that will be required to accommodate the new passenger train service in this area. From those studies designs for the station tracks, platforms and canopies will emerge which will determine those footprints and thus how much of NCDOT's property remains to build the actual station facility and any TOD opportunities.

Thank you for your inquiry. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Allan Paul
Deputy Director
NCDOT Rail Division

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Thanks for the update.

I gotta say I am truely disapointed in NCDOT. They had 2 plus years to negotiate and plan yet they could not pull these two projects off. This really seems like an institutional failure to me.

Wonder what happens to the service yard at Summit?

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So then, what happens with the $128 million ARRA funds allocated to this project? Does it evaporate or can it be reallocated? Gateway Station or the requisite track improvements are the obvious target, but this email makes it seem like that is off the table too?

 

If so can Raleigh have a chunk of it to close the funding gap on its Union Station project? I think $30 or $35 million would probably do it. Other candidates, hmm. PTC/90mph upgrades for the NCRR perhaps? Any major road grade separation projects waiting in the wings in the Charlotte area?

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Alright all, I finally got a detailed, definitive response from NCDOT on the status of the grade seperation at ADM, Gateway Station and what NC DOT is working on to move things forward:

The Federal Railroad Administration and the North Carolina Department of Transportation have determined that the Charlotte CSXT/Norfolk Southern Railroads Mainline Grade Separation project will not go forward at this time. This decision has been made based on budget and time constraints that would not allow NCDOT to complete the project prior to the federally mandated completion deadline of September 30, 2017. More information about the discontinuance of this project will be made public in the next 30 days.

With regard to the separate Charlotte Gateway Station project it is not dependent on completion of the Mainline Grade Separation project. However NCDOT has been directed by the North Carolina General Assembly to put the project on hold until such time that special legislation is crafted and approved by the NCGA that would allow the Department to seek private participation in the station project, a Public Private Partnership (3P). At this time State Law does not allow the Department of Transportation to enter into a 3P for a transit oriented multimodal station projects. NCDOT is working with the NCGA to address this matter. In the meantime NCDOT, along with the City of Charlotte and CATS, will be working with Norfolk Southern to perform train capacity modeling studies to determine the necessary level of track and signal infrastructure improvements that will be required to accommodate the new passenger train service in this area. From those studies designs for the station tracks, platforms and canopies will emerge which will determine those footprints and thus how much of NCDOT's property remains to build the actual station facility and any TOD opportunities.

Thank you for your inquiry. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Allan Paul

Deputy Director

NCDOT Rail Division

Ugh.

What a bummer. So .... How many years until Gateway is under construction? 15?

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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Thanks for the update.

I gotta say I am truely disapointed in NCDOT. They had 2 plus years to negotiate and plan yet they could not pull these two projects off. This really seems like an institutional failure to me.

Wonder what happens to the service yard at Summit?

 

 

Agreed. This seems like a huge bungle by NCDOT. There may have been CSX/NS delays, but ultimately NCDOT should have wielded some authority and made this happen.

 

There might be some turmoil behind the scenes beyond the lack of communication that almost jeopardized Raleigh's new station. As someone who glanced at the current Charlotte station 12 years ago, the facility is way beyond underwhelming. You guys just may be stuck with a mediocre facility for a while. Time to start planning the Charlotte-Douglas Airport and I-485 NE suburban stations instead.

 

 

So then, what happens with the $128 million ARRA funds allocated to this project? Does it evaporate or can it be reallocated? Gateway Station or the requisite track improvements are the obvious target, but this email makes it seem like that is off the table too?

 

If so can Raleigh have a chunk of it to close the funding gap on its Union Station project? I think $30 or $35 million would probably do it. Other candidates, hmm. PTC/90mph upgrades for the NCRR perhaps? Any major road grade separation projects waiting in the wings in the Charlotte area?

 

If that happens, then Charlotte replaces Raleigh as the laggard.

Edited by kdub1
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NCDOT-Rail is supposed to grade-separate the NCRR and Sugar Creek Road.  However, the latest is that project is so delayed that the BLE may end up initially crossing Sugar Creek Rd at-grade.  NCDOT fumbles yet again.http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/topic/44590-charlotte-gateway-station-and-railroad-improvements/page-27

 

The Sugar Creek Road Grade Separation Project is behind schedule from a environmental approval standpoint, but it is still proceeding from a design standpoint.  NCDOT has progressed fairly well through the design process and are finalizing right of way plans.  The delay in the Sugar Creek Road project will not prevent NCDOT from moving forward with the grade separation.  NCDOT is proposing to construct a bridge carrying Sugar Creek Road over the Norfolk Southern RR Tracks and the BLE.  Thus, the delay in the Sugar Creek Road project will not prevent the BLE from moving forward.  The project link is below.

 

 

http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/sugarcreekroad/

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  • 2 weeks later...

The announcement is official. The CSX/NS grade separation is not going to happen, at least not now. The money is going to be reallocated to:

$61.0m: Apparently cover cost overages in other projects, presumably to prevent VEing out certain elements.

$27.2m: complete the Charlotte maintenance facility

$15.0m: complete Raleigh Union Station

$4.8m: refurbish enough passenger equipment to apparently move to push-pull operation, and enable the 5th Piedmont frequency

$9.6m: Program management and oversight

 

It is unfortunate that we don't see any money going towards Charlotte Gateway Station. A positive takeaway from this is that it seems that Secretary Tata (and therefore, presumably Gov. McCrory) seems fairly well committed to passenger rail.

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The announcement is official. The CSX/NS grade separation is not going to happen, at least not now. The money is going to be reallocated to:

$61.0m: Apparently cover cost overages in other projects, presumably to prevent VEing out certain elements.

$27.2m: complete the Charlotte maintenance facility

$15.0m: complete Raleigh Union Station

$4.8m: refurbish enough passenger equipment to apparently move to push-pull operation, and enable the 5th Piedmont frequency

$9.6m: Program management and oversight

 

It is unfortunate that we don't see any money going towards Charlotte Gateway Station. A positive takeaway from this is that it seems that Secretary Tata (and therefore, presumably Gov. McCrory) seems fairly well committed to passenger rail.

 

This is better than I expected these days.

 

I'm glad they are going to a push-pull operation, should simplify track work and operations. Frankly the grade separation had a pretty damn high cost for what it accomplished (operationally). Clearly you can operate passenger trains through the crossing (as they do now) so it's not really a show stopper for anything, just not really an optimal configuration. 

 

With expanded service and increased ridership hopefully the pressure for a real solution will come.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Per Amtraks data released today, Charlotte is North Carolina's busiest Amtrak Station with 201,481 on/offs in FY2013. Raleigh was 2nd with 159,584 on/offs in FY2013. Gateway station really needs to be prioritized. Carolinian ridership was up 3.6 % and Piedmont ridership was up 4.7%. A total of 978,859 people boarded or got off a train in NC in FY2013.

Alex

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  • 2 weeks later...

Latest word around the watercooler is that CSX is looking to build a third Transflo facility in Charlotte... and it's going to end up very near the first one.  Apparently they're looking at buying land right around what we call the "Sears Lead" and the "GM Lead", which works out to being right around here:

 

qsyYvuR.png

 

Now obviously these are all still just rumors and there's been PLENTY of those around here that never materialized.  As for whether they're just looking at buying the land there or perhaps some of the vacant buildings to demolish as well to make more room I can't say.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just heard that the project to expand the Transflo facility near Chemway has been approved.  Currently, the ethanol train that yards there is 80 cars and unloaded by truck to be taken over to tank town.  With the expansion, they'll be building 4 more 30-car tracks, while the existing 3 tracks used now for the ethanol train will be returned to Transflo so they can accommodate more customers.  In any case, ethanol trains will become 90 cars and they'll be building a pipeline to unload the product and pump it across the P&N to tank town.  I believe the idea is that it will take a lot less time to unload so they'll be able to get more trains in per week.

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A public hearing for discussions on the maintenance facility is scheduled for Dec. 12. (since its pretty close to Gateway station I did not want to create a separate thread)

 

 

The facility would feature an enclosure for major maintenance operations; fuel pad and onsite fuel tank; additional space for spare parts and equipment storage; an enclosed train wash facility; and train crew base for as many as 20 crew members.

 

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=38568

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