Skip to main content

North Carolina's Amtrak Expansion to Asheville Comes into Focus

Image
By

North Carolina's push to expand its intercity passenger rail system continues to move forward with the completion of a recent feasibility study on a westward expansion from Salisbury to Asheville.

The study paints a more specific picture of how the new service will run.  The study proposes three daily round trips from Salisbury to Asheville.  The study projects 100,000 annual riders.  The 3 hours and 25 minutes ride from Salisbury would include stops at Statesville, Hickory, Morganton, and Marion.  The estimated cost to get the route up and running is $665 million. (1)

The targeted date for train service to begin to Asheville is 2035.

The study is the first step in North Carolina's aggressive plan to expand its Amtrak service west and east.

With the study completed, there are still several questions about the service.  The first question is: will any of the three round trips include a direct Raleigh-to-Asheville run?  Or will all passengers need to change trains in Salisbury?

Salisbury Junction and Salisbury Station (Federal Railroad Administration).

Another question is what upgrades would be made to Salisbury Junction.  The junction, which sits just north of the current Salisbury passenger station, is where trains to and from Asheville connect to the main line between Charlotte and Raleigh.  A 2004 study of the Richmond-to-Charlotte rail corridor stated that a series of improvements at Salisbury Junction are needed to allow higher-speed trains to run north-south through the junction.  It's safe to assume that further upgrades at Salisbury Junction would be needed for trains running east-west to and from Asheville.

The passenger area at Salisbury's Amtrak Station (Adam Moss).

Salisbury's historic passenger station is poised to handle the extra traffic.  The station, built in 1908, has considerable room for expansion for additional tracks and platforms.  Currently, an expansion to add a second platform at the Salisbury station is underway with completion planned for 2024.   The same 2004 study mentioned that the station has room for additional track space for passenger service to Asheville.

Other News:

North Carolina is also looking at possibly expanding rail into Northeastern North Carolina from Raleigh to Greenville.  A feasibility study for this corridor began in 2022.  Currently, Greenville area residents can access the Wilson Amtrak station via the Amtrak Thruway shuttle bus service.

Amtrak recently completed a full overhaul to the Gastonia station.  The station, which only sees under 750 boardings a year (FY 2021), saw numerous upgrades for safety and accessibility.  The Gastonia station is served daily by the Crescent Line.

Sources & Links:




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
4 comments
Read more

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

By
The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

By
"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...
Post a Comment
Read more