Petersburg, VA-Raleigh, NC

[D.Carleton]

One of the potential projects for federal passenger rail money is the 'Southeast Corridor' running through Richmond, VA and Columbia, SC. The linchpin for this would be the reinstallation of track between Petersburg, VA and Ridgeway, NC. Track south of Ridgeway to Raleigh will need to be rebuilt, perhaps in its entirety. Re-engineering the right-of-way between Petersburg and Ridgeway could result in a 110 MPH railroad with no freight interference. South of Ridgeway maintaining the track suitable for higher speeds would require mitigating damage through lower speeds for freights and increased track inspection. Does anyone here have an idea of what freight traffic is left south of Ridgeway?

[Noel Weaver]

One of the potential projects for federal passenger rail money is the 'Southeast Corridor' running through Richmond, VA and Columbia, SC. The linchpin for this would be the reinstallation of track between Petersburg, VA and Ridgeway, NC. Track south of Ridgeway to Raleigh will need to be rebuilt, perhaps in its entirety. Re-engineering the right-of-way between Petersburg and Ridgeway could result in a 110 MPH railroad with no freight interference. South of Ridgeway maintaining the track suitable for higher speeds would require mitigating damage through lower speeds for freights and increased track inspection. Does anyone here have an idea of what freight traffic is left south of Ridgeway?

It seems to me that I read somewhere just recently that there is one freight train in each direction between Raleigh, NC and
Hamlet, NC. There is one local freight train north out of Raleigh that works between Raleigh and Norlina.
I guess there is still some local business north between Raleigh and Norlina.
Noel Weaver

[matthewsaggie]

Just north of Henderson NC is the Graystone quarry, a primary source of ballast for the SAL, SCL and now CSX. Trains are irregular.

[D.Carleton]

Thank you for your input. Virginia has not requested anything for the former SAL main. However, NCDOT has requested $425 million to buy the ROW and about ten times that amount to make a railroad with an "average operating speed" of 75 MPH. They appear to have all their ducks in a row and, IMHO, this project has a huge potential to benefit a large swath of the Southeast as well as North Carolina.

[10more years]

There's a "local" that works daily from Hamlet to Raleigh. I think it's two sided. There are several locals/switchers around Raleigh and Apex, including one that works up towards Henderson. It used to go up to Norlina, but I'm not sure how far it goes now. The line north of Norlina was "abandoned" years ago, primarily because of supposed costs to repair the bridge over the Roanoke River. (I've heard many an "old-timer" talk of the thrill of cresting the hill and looking down on the Roanoke and ALL you could see was water!)

CSX still provides service to Greystone, although it is irregular presently. But, it looks like CSX is planning on some major routine maintenance between Rocky Mount and Florence and has been told by FRA to upgrade the line from Wilmington to Hamlet and Charlotte. So, Greystone might get part of that business, although the quarry at Trego does a good deal of CSX business (ballast) for that area. There are new ports being built or proposed at both Wilmington and Portsmouth and those CSX lines will need major overhauls (passing sidings, speed upgrades, track work, possibly signals) if they get any traffic from either one.

NCDOT is looking to upgrade track and time on the North Carolina Railroad trackage between Raleigh and Charlotte (which happens to be leased, at least partly to NS) with federal stimulus money.

You can bet that all major and shortline railroad are looking for a piece of stimulus package to upgrade and/or expand their trackwork.

[NellieBly]

Supposedly Federal Paperboard was to build a box plant at Ridgeway that would be good for a couple of hundred cars a month. Don't know if it happened. I do know that CSX rebuilt the "S" line from Petersburg to Raleigh only a few years before abandoning it. Did a valuaton of the track between Norlina and Ridgeway for a CSX abandonment in the mid 1990s, and the 132 lb. welded rail had so little wear it was still within steel mill tolerances for new rail!

The VA Dept of Rail and Public Transportation has surveyed the entire line to the NC border, and prepared alignment drawings showing where curves will be realigned to raise speeds. I believe they're on the VA DRPT Web site.

The plan is to rehab the line for 110 MPH passenger service and defray part of the cost by giving CSX trackage rights to run fast freight (probably intermodal) on the line. I hope NC gets the funding.

[D.Carleton]

Last week NCDOT released its draft environmental impact study for the Richmond-Raleigh corridor. They are aiming for complete grade crossing elimination, 110 mph top speed and an average speed of 86 mph. I'll echo Ms. Bly's sentiment in hopping NC gets the funds to make this a reality.