Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements

[JHart]

2 hours ago, kermit said:

^ I am betting they are going to remove the existing tracks and drag the new tracks into place (this minimizes road closure time). While it looks like they might have done some grading beneath the new tracks,. nothing appears to have been cleared on the far side of 36th.

Absolutely no reason for two tracks anywhere on the ACWR, especially on a portion which is planned to be completely removed at some point.

Bummer. They did put in a switch and it is currently connected if that changes anything.

 

[kermit]

1 hour ago, JHart said:

Bummer. They did put in a switch and it is currently connected if that changes anything.

 

^ In that case I am stumped. Its hard to imagine they would go to the trouble to put in a switch if they planned to just replace track. 

Now I am super interested in what is happening.

EDIT: There is an abandoned siding on the south side of the tracks here (its no longer connected to the main, you can see it on google maps). Perhaps they needed to replace it on the other side of the track??? Its a strange place for a siding, the heart of NoDa is a lousy place to store equipment and there are certainly no freight customers and why didn't they just restore the existing?

Edited August 31, 2022 by kermit

[Niner National]

They had this parked out on the original  tracks last week. Maybe they’re just going to store this luxury passenger car there? It’s owned by the owners of ACWR. 

[kermit]

^ So is the ACWR gonna open a rail car restaurant in the core of NoDa? They do run a very good rail car refurbishing business, so I am sure they have the necessary gear. The new tracks are in a place with decent pedestrian access. I can't imagine what else they might use a new spur for.

Edited August 31, 2022 by kermit

[CLT Development]

On 8/30/2022 at 11:05 PM, kermit said:

^ So is the ACWR gonna open a rail car restaurant in the core of NoDa? They do run a very good rail car refurbishing business, so I am sure they have the necessary gear. The new tracks are in a place with decent pedestrian access. I can't imagine what else they might use a new spur for.

They will be parking their vintage cars there for parties and storage. 

[ajfunder]

They just announced this on their social media. Probably related.

[kermit]

If you have any Amtrak-related plans on Thursday (Crescent) Friday (all other trains) and beyond be sure to have a backup plan. A national freight rail strike appears likely to happen on Friday. While the labor unrest does not extend to Amtrak, passenger rail relies on freight dispatchers to operate, and freight rail maintenance crews to keep track usable, so Amtrak will need to shut down. (With the possible exception of the NEC). Long distance trains are already being annulled so that nothing is still en-route if a strike happens. 

On the plus side, a big strike would make our passenger rail system much more European.

Edited September 15, 2022 by kermit

[ajfunder]

Party Train

 

Looks like the party train if successful will become a fixture in the neighborhood. Explains why they built a whole track. The train nerd in me loves this.

[Reverie39]

Awesome, love to see unique attractions like this. Everything helps contribute to Charlotte's growing cultural identity.

[Windsurfer]

On 9/19/2022 at 6:55 PM, ajfunder said:

Party Train

 

Looks like the party train if successful will become a fixture in the neighborhood. Explains why they built a whole track. The train nerd in me loves this.

I remember there used to be one like this parked near the football stadium in 4th ward. This was in the 90s. Pretty cool and not sure why it was terminated. (no pun intended)

[videtur quam contuor]

The one on the siding in the gravel lot off Cedar street was not nearly as eye catching as this one. First year or two as I recall it was there for Panther games, special tailgating opportunity or something like that. After that, dunno.

[kermit]

Just back from our current Amtrak station, the renovations turned out nicely….

(Its Stockholm station. Stockholm is roughly the same size as Charlotte, and it sits on the periphery of the European rail network)

Edited September 30, 2022 by kermit

[kermit]

From the current Carolina's Association for Passenger Trains newsletter:

Quote

Phase 1 of the Charlotte Multi-modal Transportation Center project "Gateway " is now
completed. Phase 2 will include construction of the center which will serve Amtrak, Gold Line Streetcar, and local and inter-city bus services. It will be incorporated into a multi-story mixed-use high-rise development and may also serve light rail. Opening of the facility is expected in 2026.

Phase 1 consisted of the necessary track, signal and platform construction work for the station.

Edited October 11, 2022 by kermit

[JRCLT]

From the current Carolina's Association for Passenger Trains newsletter:

Phase 1 of the Charlotte Multi-modal Transportation Center project "Gateway " is now
completed. Phase 2 will include construction of the center which will serve Amtrak, Gold Line Streetcar, and local and inter-city bus services. It will be incorporated into a multi-story mixed-use high-rise development and may also serve light rail. Opening of the facility is expected in 2026.

 

NCDOT confirms this. Completion date before was “2023*” now “Fall 2022.”

https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/charlotte-gateway/Pages/default.aspx

Would like to here more about phase 2 soon.

[Nathan2]

Is there any other major examples of main train stations under an office tower? Wish we could invest in a structure that wasn't just going to be a glass box. 

[kermit]

On 10/7/2022 at 9:10 AM, Nathan2 said:

Is there any other major examples of main train stations under an office tower? Wish we could invest in a structure that wasn't just going to be a glass box. 

Historically many big city stations had office space (and/or hotels). Here is Michigan Central (Detroit) in its heyday.  Buffalo Central was equally grand (second). [Please note that the office space in both of these towers was built by the railroad, for the railroad.]

Late 20th century  US passenger rail was generally pushed out of downtown to areas where no one wanted an office, so its harder to find contemporary examples.  Raleigh is one, Miami Central for Brightline (3rd photo, it is not the station for Amtrak or Tri-rail) might be the most similar to Gateway, Lasalle St in Chicago (but that is not much of a station, really just platforms for commuter rail ‘out back’).

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by kermit

[Reverie39]

3 hours ago, Nathan2 said:

Is there any other major examples of main train stations under an office tower? Wish we could invest in a structure that wasn't just going to be a glass box. 

Raleigh is constructing one. It looks like a fantastic project.

http://rusbusnc.com/

[CLT Development]

3 hours ago, Nathan2 said:

Is there any other major examples of main train stations under an office tower? Wish we could invest in a structure that wasn't just going to be a glass box. 

I can assure you its not just a glass box.

[Mid South NC]

8 minutes ago, CLT Development said:

I can assure you its not just a glass box.

Sweet, great find!  May I ask where you obtained these renderings? 

[CLT Development]

10 minutes ago, Mid South NC said:

Sweet, great find!  May I ask where you obtained these renderings? 

I've actually had renderings for this project since 2019, and I cannot give away the original source. You can find these two on Capstone's website. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by CLT Development

[turbocraig]

5 hours ago, CLT Development said:

I've actually had renderings for this project since 2019, and I cannot give away the original source. You can find these two on Capstone's website. 

Since the renderings are from pre-Covid, are they still accurate, to the best of your knowledge?  Or are these hypothetical renditions?

[RANYC]

On 10/7/2022 at 7:00 PM, turbocraig said:

Since the renderings are from pre-Covid, are they still accurate, to the best of your knowledge?  Or are these hypothetical renditions?

I’d guess not even close to accurate.  City was supposed to be presented with a master dev agreement for its portion of gateway phase 2 in fall 2021, and I don’t believe anything has happened.  In previous reporting on gateway, it’s been said the city has responsibility for a public plaza, parking, and a bus facility.  Safe to say a 3 year old rendering on a public-private partnership might as well be toilet paper.

[j-man]

It’s still hard to see this plan on those two small lots. Even though these are old renderings, For some reason I’m not understanding how these 4 towers would be placed on the two lots. As well as a functioning transit station at the bottom.

[KJHburg]

Travelling by train in NC from Charlotte Magazine 

https://www.charlottemagazine.com/travel-traversing-north-carolina-via-train/

[tozmervo]

1 hour ago, j-man said:

It’s still hard to see this plan on those two small lots. Even though these are old renderings, For some reason I’m not understanding how these 4 towers would be placed on the two lots. As well as a functioning transit station at the bottom.

There's a pretty significant amount of land for this project.