Wilmington Service to Raleigh

[Jeff Smith]

I thought I'd make a separate topic for this discussion from the Asheville topic: WECT.com

https://www.easterncarolinarail.com/

‘Would help the social and economic development’: Passenger rail service could be coming to southeastern North Carolina

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - There could soon be a new route to travel between Wilmington and Raleigh. The Town of Burgaw hosted a passenger rail symposium at the Historic Train Depot on Tuesday for community members to learn more about the proposed route.

Eastern Carolina Rail is behind this big push. One of the founders of the organization, Gene Merritt, said that Wilmington has been growing rapidly and that’s why they see a need to bring this passenger rail service to Wilmington from Raleigh.

He said that he helped push leaders to extend I-40 into Wilmington back in the late 1970′s, and now he says it’s a similar motivation for this project.

“The transportation infrastructure within the city has not kept up with the growth and demand of the people coming in. And this is not the answer, but it is an answer to that issue,” Merritt said. “There are a lot of reasons to go to Raleigh. And I think there are a lot of reasons to go to Wilmington. And so those smaller towns along the rail Burgaw, Wallace, Warsaw, having stops in their town would help the social and economic development of those towns, if you will, the downtown areas of those towns would benefit greatly by this passenger rail service.”

He knows it will likely take about 10 to 12 years until the train would actually be up and running if this project gets approved by state and local leaders.
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[Steamguy73]

Unlike the Asheville proposals I feel like this one would actually provide some serious transit benefit.

Obviously the biggest obstacle is the missing track gaps: the larger one between Wallace and castle hayne, and also putting track back below the one tree hill bridge into the town.

My question with the routing though is how trains are going to get from the H line to the Goldsboro Union Station?

[Stocktoe]

I’ve seen an old report, I think from the state, that proposed a new track connection from the H Line to the Wilmington and Weldon Sub. It would curve northeastward from about W. Mulberry Street near Alabama Ave, through private property south of Ash Street, and then to the W&W just north of the station. I don’t know if this could work but it would seem to allow Raleigh-Wilmington trains to serve Union Station or to bypass it to the south if needed. If in the very long future there were interest in service from Raleigh toward Kinston and New Bern, some more connections would be needed.

[rallyrabbit]

Looking at all the old rails, how did Goldsboro Union Station every work with the S-line?

Did they take the old line from Brick Street, hop through downtown (on the tracks that are no longer there, and hit the wye north of downtown?

[rallyrabbit]

Another though, they could take the line at brick street and cross the Wilmington and Weldon with diamond, run on a second track into the station, Reverse the train and hop of the Wilmington and Weldon right there.

[Jeff Smith]

Study completed: PortCityDaily.com

Rail study estimates Wilmington-to-Raleigh passenger service would be $810M, connects through Goldsboro

SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — An updated feasibility study is complete regarding the viability of passenger rail between Wilmington and Raleigh.

According to the newly released draft report, conducted by WGI Inc. engineering firm of West Palm Beach, the price from the last study — completed in 2005 — to bring passenger rail from the Port City to the Triangle has increased six times or more. Once slated to be between $65 and $185 million, today it has ticked up to $810 million.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation released the Southeastern North Carolina Passenger Rail Feasibility Study earlier this month. It assessed an eastern route and a western route to serve Wilmington passengers, but determined the former would be better suited for increased ridership and decreased costs — by roughly $170 million.

Estimated Wilmington riders have gone from 45,000 two decades ago to 80,000 or more. The Wilmington-to-Raleigh route will bring a second rail line to the area (freight rail is already in place), with proposed stops to include Clayton, Selma, Goldsboro and Wilmington. At least two more locations will be hashed out in a detailed service plan, decided upon further along in the process.
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