Charlotte Awarded $100M Stimulus For High Speed Rail & Jobs!

City Of Charlotte Wins Fast-Train Funds


Federal railroad officials plan to spend more than $100 million to create a railroad superhighway through Charlotte.

The money will build a bridge and redesign tracks downtown, clearing the way for both high-speed passenger rail and a future CATS commuter rail line. Plus, it will uncork the path for freight trains.

“It’s a win, win, win,” said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, “not only for Charlotte but the entire state.”

The grant comes from stimulus money approved by Congress to start building a national high-speed passenger rail network.

The projects are part of a broader effort to expand to accommodate faster and more frequent trains between Charlotte and Raleigh.

They include buying real estate for a future high-speed rail maintenance shop on the south side of Bank of America Stadium.

State officials are unsure when construction will begin.

The funding is part of a half-billion-dollar high-speed rail grant to North Carolina announced last week that also includes money to add a second line of track between Charlotte and Greensboro, speeding up both passenger and freight service.

“These are leading-edge projects that are planning for the future,” said Patrick Simmons, director of the state’s rail division.

The overall pot of $545 million will pay to straighten curved tracks, add double tracks and build bridges to separate train and automobile traffic at points across the state. By 2015, officials plan to raise top train speeds from the current 79 mph to 90 mph. The federal money will also pay to upgrade stations and expand the state’s fleet of locomotives and rail cars, including an additional daily train between Raleigh and Charlotte.

Simmons identified the downtown Charlotte project on Friday. State officials had refrained from highlighting the specific projects to be funded, as they are still clarifying details of the grant with officials in Washington.

The $100 million-plus will pay to untie a knot of intersecting tracks underneath the Brookshire Freeway, next to the ADM mill at 10th and Smith streets. Norfolk Southern’s north-south lines intersect with CSX’s east-west tracks, creating the railroad version of a congested four-way stop. Trains have to wait on each other before going through, burning up fuel and time.

The federal money will pay to lower the east-west tracks across town, including at that big intersection, so those trains travel through a trench. The plans also call for building a bridge over the trench for the north-south tracks at the current four-way-stop. That will keep trains moving constantly in both directions, but it also:

Modernizes north-south tracks so they can carry high speed trains.

Allows space on the proposed bridge for a future CATS light-rail line.

Clears up train traffic so freight trains can easily reach a planned transportation center next to the airport where freight will be transferred between trains and trucks.

Foxx described the changes funded by the federal grant as laying a foundation for a transportation system that will allow business and the region as a whole to expand.

“The synergies between this high-speed rail investment and the intermodal project out at our airport are positioning our city and our state very well for economic growth,” he said, “which is exactly what we need right now.”

Ronnie Bryant, president of the Charlotte Regional Partnership economic development group, said the train expansion helps both environmentally, by providing alternatives to driving, and economically, by improving the flow of people and goods through the area.

“This is a definite shot in the arm for us,” Bryant said. “From a regional perspective it helps us continue to develop our public transportation arteries.”

The state has bought some pieces of land and now will have the money to finish acquisitions for a “gateway” station to be built between the stadium and Brookshire Freeway. It would serve as a hub for CATS and Greyhound buses, light rail, downtown trolley and future high-speed trains.

The state also can finish land purchases for a maintenance shop for the high=speed locomotives across the railroad track from Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, south of the stadium and west of Mint Street.

Simmons described the projects as “a great first step forward.”



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, WRAL, Huffington Post, Google Maps