ARRA High Speed Rail Announcement pt. 1

North Carolina is receiving $545 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for further development of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor, a nearly 500-mile route that will allow trains to travel between Charlotte and Washington, D.C. at top speeds of up to 90-110 miles per hour and an average speed of 86 mph.

The announcement was made on Jan. 28 at the newly renovated Durham train station.

The project is expected to create or maintain 4,800 private sector jobs in North Carolina and provide environmental and energy benefits through reduced congestion and improved air quality.

Under the recovery funding, North Carolina received $520 million for improvements that will enable higher track speeds along the corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte and $25 million for projects to improve reliability of existing service from Raleigh north to Virginia. In addition, Virginia received $75 million for improvements to the Richmond to Washington, D.C. section of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.

Since the USDOT designated Charlotte to Washington, D.C. as a high-speed rail corridor in 1992, the N.C. Department of Transportation has invested more than $300 million in the states intercity passenger rail service for renovation and construction of train stations, track work improvements and corridor preservation projects in order to pave the way for high-speed service.

The high-speed rail corridor funding award meshes with the goals outlined in NCDOTs new Complete Streets policy, which calls for a diverse transportation infrastructure that encompasses all modes of travel, from bicycles and ferries to cars and rail. The corridor project is also in conjunction with the Statewide Logistics Plan, which leverages the states assets to improve the economic well-being of all North Carolinians.




Additional information is available at www.bytrain.org.

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News & Politics

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• ARRA
• High
• Speed
• Rail
• Announcement
• pt.

[pgyogurt]

I lived in the Triangle Area as as student and hopped on Greyhounds, Amtraks, TTAs, and DATA, Chapel Hill Transit all through Raleigh, Durham, Research Park, and Chapel Hill for four years. I hope this ARRA money can bring visionary change to the region. Instead of the inner and outer belt line I-40 expansion, they can install intercity rail, then intracity rail, commuter lines, and then hybrid bus systems with real time tracking at each station. Students and workers will benefit. That's change!