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Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements


dubone

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13 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

I searched for news on Greyhound construction, too, and couldn't come up with anything. Maybe they're just repaving the thing.

Wouldn't that be the most Charlotte thing ever.

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It is probable that it will be used as staging area for any work with the interim station they will be building.  It would make the most sense, as it is a NCDOT property and they will not want to disrupt the operations of the current Greyhound terminal.  

The land closer to Graham is Meck county land that OUGHT to have the vestigial 3rd connector removed.  Polaris lists it as "4th & Graham Property" and has it in green like it is something special, but then there are no easily found documents of the county plans for that land.  

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  • 1 month later...

These Piedmont upgrades, from what I understand, will essentially just make passenger travel suck a little less, though I'm not yet sure how. Most of all it seems like it will make freight travel more comfortable for the RR (by eliminating various rail crossings, etc).

Edited by SgtCampsalot
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19 hours ago, SgtCampsalot said:

These Piedmont upgrades, from what I understand, will essentially just make passenger travel suck a little less, though I'm not yet sure how. 

Speeds will be increased slightly thanks to some curve straightening. The projecy is mostly focused on double tracking so passengers will spend less time stopped waiting for another train to pass. The biggest benefit will be much better on time performance plus higher capacity (we will see more trains per day). 

Edited by kermit
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19 hours ago, Piedmont767 said:

Wait, so we aren't getting high speed rail like the Acela Express?

We never were.  Charlotte to Raleigh/Washington was always going to be "higher speed" due to the SEHSR using the NCRR ROW.  There are too many stops, too many curves, and too many at grade crossings to get true high speed rail. 

Charlotte to Atlanta on the other hand has a good chance at being true High Speed.

 

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On 3/26/2016 at 7:04 AM, DEnd said:

We never were.  Charlotte to Raleigh/Washington was always going to be "higher speed" due to the SEHSR using the NCRR ROW.  There are too many stops, too many curves, and too many at grade crossings to get true high speed rail. 

Charlotte to Atlanta on the other hand has a good chance at being true High Speed.

 

I like the one proposal for true high speed rail along the ACWR, from Charlotte to Raleigh. The line would have to be straighten at several places, and the NCDOT would probably have to completely buy the line from ACWR (or does Norfolk Southern still own the line?). Also, once it reaches Gulf NC, the high speed rail would then continue on Norfolk Southern's line, from Golf to Fuquary Varina, then to Raleigh, which would link up with the S-Line to Richmond. There would be only one stop along the HSR, and that would be a new station in Colon NC, which would be a transfer point to the Silver Star towards Cary or Hamlet. Charlotte and Raleigh could also use the line for commuter rail as well.

PlannedIntercityRail.png

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  • 1 month later...

NCDOT Rail Division will convene an informal meeting to discuss plans to construct a locomotive and railcar maintenance facility adjoining West Summit Avenue adjacent to the Norfolk Southern Railroad crossing. This meeting will be held on Monday, May 16 from 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the Wilmore Community Center located at 501 West Blvd. NCDOT staff will provide community members and City Council with an opportunity to provide comments.
Access to additional information regarding this project is available on the project website at: http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/charlotterailmaint/

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On 3/25/2016 at 0:44 PM, kermit said:

Speeds will be increased slightly thanks to some curve straightening. The projecy is mostly focused on double tracking so passengers will spend less time stopped waiting for another train to pass. The biggest benefit will be much better on time performance plus higher capacity (we will see more trains per day). 

Does anyone know if PTC has been installed along the NCRR between Charlotte and Raleigh?  Forget HSR, even a simple technology like PTC which has been around for decades is taking forever to implement.

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On 5/17/2016 at 3:06 PM, ChessieCat said:

Does anyone know if PTC has been installed along the NCRR between Charlotte and Raleigh?  Forget HSR, even a simple technology like PTC which has been around for decades is taking forever to implement.

This is a wayside PTC pole on the NS H-Line near Morrisville, and another near Harrisburg on the main line. Judging by the perpendicular facing signals and amount of construction in this area, I would assume it's not operational yet.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/17/2016 at 0:06 PM, ChessieCat said:

Does anyone know if PTC has been installed along the NCRR between Charlotte and Raleigh?  Forget HSR, even a simple technology like PTC which has been around for decades is taking forever to implement.

PTC is not simple and has not been around for decades.  When the Rail Safety Improvement Act was passed several years ago, PTC did not exist.  Several attempts by numerous railroads have tried implementing various types of what we know today as PTC.  in the late 90's CSX experimented with CBTM which was similar to PTC.  They finally figured out that the technology was not sound (at the time) or cost effective to implement.   BNSF has also been experiencing for years with similar results. 

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  • 1 month later...

Yesterday it was announced that Charlotte would get direct intermodal rail service to Wilmington.  It will be the first direct-to-port intermodal service in Charlotte.  According to the article I read, companies were actually requesting the service (i.e. The demand existed prior to the service; not a build it and they will come scenario).  IMO, it only underscores the need for an intermodal logistics corridor between Charlotte and Wilmington...an interstate, better rail connections, Project Legacy in Eastern Union County, Amtrak service, pipelines, fiber optic cable, etc.  If NC really wants to bolster its economy through infrastructure projects, they would be hard-pressed to find a project with higher ROI than a Charlotte-Wilmington logistics corridor.

Also, for those interested, the massive CSX rail terminal that was previously announced for Johnston County will now be built in/near Rocky Mount instead.

Edited by cltbwimob
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[pessimism ahead, its certainly not pointed at anyone here]

re Wilmington to Charlotte twice weekly intermodal train: meh, its just the death rattle of a dying port. Nothing to see here other than a press release.

Now if Charlotte has the foresight to get the SC Inland port traffic from Charleston (which went to Greer instead) then that would have been a big deal.

Edited by kermit
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^ I am usually wrong and I don't disagree with any of your perspective. However my concerns about Wilmington are about trends in intermodal that were evident long before Post-Panamax issues appeared. Container freight in general has become increasingly concentrated in large ports because intermodal is so capital intensive. Wilmington's location in the shadow of three massive ports means it is never going to attract enough units to justify the investments necessary to keep it competitive for anything other than castoff traffic.  

I am pessimistic on the Port of Wilmington's future because container ports are consolidating as fast as they can (a process that was accelerated by the canal expansion), the smaller ports will undergo a process of obsolescence that will ultimately drive most traffic elsewhere. Wilmington will never have cranes as fast as Charleston, it will never has as much longshoremen capacity as Savannah. It will never have as many RTGs as Norfolk. It will never be served by multiple railroads (so off dock costs will always be much higher than for other SE ports). These off dock costs will also make the port marginally less attractive for breakbulk or roro. Finally, NC's megaproject failures mean that we have very few industrial products in the Wilmington hinterlands that justify containerization or roro

I do agree, Wilmington will survive. But it will only survive because its not busy and can accommodate miscellaneous traffic and its sporadic bursts of traffic from Lejeune. If it ever gets busy it will become more cost effective for the 5,000 TEU ships to go to Charleston. Wilmington just can't grow enough to flourish.

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OT, somewhat. Some years ago friend vacationed in Europe and bought a Mercedes convertible to drive for the trip and then ship home. Arrangements were made to ship to Wilmington. All good. Friend arranged for me to drive him there to meet ship and car and follow home. Mercedes called two days ahead to confirm arrival time. All good. For first time my friend then discovered that the arrival was port of Wilmington...Delaware.

If you knew JD you would not be surprised at this confusion.

Edited by tarhoosier
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38 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

OT, somewhat. Some years ago friend vacationed in Europe and bought a Mercedes convertible to drive for the trip and then ship home. Arrangements were made to ship to Wilmington. All good. Friend arranged for me to drive him there to meet ship and car and follow home. Mercedes called two days ahead to confirm arrival time. All good. For first time my friend then discovered that the arrival was port of Wilmington...Delaware.

If you knew JD you would not be surprised at this confusion.

He should have played it safe and sent it to Charlotte, SC. 

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On July 20, 2016 at 2:25 PM, cltbwimob said:

^^^Except you'd both be wrong.  Last year was a record breaking year for the port of Wilmington, with volumes up 18% year over year from 2014.  Currently the state ports authority is spending close to $100 million to widen the turning basin and procure larger cranes to accommodate two 10,000 TEU ships simultaneously which will represent a significant increase over the size of the ships that currently call the port.

I understand the traditional line of thinking is that any port that can't handle the new post-Panamax ships will be left to die on the vine, but honestly do people really believe, with the Panama Canal enhancements, that every shipping line is going to just sink all their 4,500-7,500 TEU ships and make them artificial reefs now that the canal can now handle the larger ships?  The answer to that is of course no-these ships will sail the high seas for decades to come.  Some even see the 4,500-7,500 TEU ships as Wilmington's niche.  As east coast ports become more and more crowded with the massive ships, Wilmington will start looking attractive to the shipping lines that have a preponderance of the <10,000 TEU ships.

Furthermore, it's not just container ships that need to make port calls. Bulk and Breakbulk ships, RoRo ships, Tankers, etc all have to make port calls.  As other ports become more crowded with container traffic, Wilmington could become an attractive option for those ships with the proper investments and marketing. Case in point, Brunswick, GA doesn't have a container terminal to its name but it sees tons of RoRo ships-is it a dying port because it will never see a 14,000 TEU ship? 

The point is that just because Wilmington will likely never see her channel dredged to 60 ft doesn't mean that she automatically becomes a dying port unworthy of our investment.  To think so is to be myopic WRT all the possibilities beyond the new post-Panamax ships.  It sounds as if container traffic is growing and the ports authority has been investing in other types of terminals as well.  If Wilmington had a direct interstate connection to Charlotte (the largest economic region in the Carolinas by far) along with better rail service, it could be a very successful port.  I would dare say that one of the reasons Charleston is so successful as a port compared to Wilmington is, among other things, precisely because it already has a direct interstate link to Charlotte. Most of our international  trade flows go through there or Savannah.  If Wilmington could compete with Charleston and Savannah in terms of access to markets such as Charlotte, there would probably be a sizable shift in container traffic to Wilmington even without the post-Panamax improvements.

when do the bonds issue?

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