Raleigh needs train

[raccemup]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Guy

I doubt the triangle area will ever get a rail system at this point.

Considering we can't even get 540 finished, that's probably very true.

[OmegaBaby]

I like the idea of having trains. But it seems like every city that has trains also has...
1) Horrible, outdated, congested roads (I'm looking at you Philly!).
2) High taxes to maintain the trains (I'm looking at you DC!).
3) Huge wasteful bureaucracies (I'm looking at you SEPTA!).

So my fear is that we'll end up with a hugely expensive train system that's only accessible to a minority of the population, that will require huge tax increases to support, and will have a negative effect on car travel overall.

My other complaint about the train system is that to appease the taxi and rental businesses, there's not going to be a connection to the airport. And it seem to me that because of that, we're eliminating the most logical use of trains....to shuttle visitors between the airport and downtown Raleigh and Durham.

[kmflan]

This same situation happened in KC over the last 15-20 years. Then, finally, the guy who spear-headed the whole thing got it out to the voters as a referendum. And it passed! The city council is freaking out because they are now required to implement light rail somehow and have no budget for it whatsoever. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[NYer]

Originally Posted by jbognar

I like the idea of having trains. But it seems like every city that has trains also has...
1) Horrible, outdated, congested roads (I'm looking at you Philly!).
2) High taxes to maintain the trains (I'm looking at you DC!).
3) Huge wasteful bureaucracies (I'm looking at you SEPTA!).

So my fear is that we'll end up with a hugely expensive train system that's only accessible to a minority of the population, that will require huge tax increases to support, and will have a negative effect on car travel overall.

My other complaint about the train system is that to appease the taxi and rental businesses, there's not going to be a connection to the airport. And it seem to me that because of that, we're eliminating the most logical use of trains....to shuttle visitors between the airport and downtown Raleigh and Durham.

Wow! So true!
In NY they just recently added a light rail connecting the 2 major airports with the city & the Long Island Rail Road.
IF they have to do a train here it would be a logical start to do a light rail to Durham, Chapel Hill & Raleigh.

[Tampa Red]

Originally Posted by RaleighRob

Yeah, TTA (Triangle Transit Authority) has been trying to get us one for decades now. But getting the funding has been the issue. I personally would love to have it. I think I'd use it for visiting other parts of the Triangle.

Of course as mentioned, suburban sprawl is more to blame for traffic woes than the lack of a train.

But lack of off road commuter transport causes urban sprawl. I grew up in Boston and have lived in Austin, Tx and Tampa.

There's only so much traffic a road will accomodate. Then you need a bigger road. When that's full, you need to move the businesses nearer the commuters, because no road is big enough to handle it.

When a high percentage of suburban commuters can park in a big lot and ride during rush hour, those that choose to drive will also benefit.

Boston's Downtown would have completely died without the subway.

Many affluent commuters simply drive to the local station and ride, because it's faster and convenient.

[Tampa Red]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Guy

I can’t remember where I read this, but I seem to recall a news article that stated the TTA couldn’t secure the federal funding for the proposed rail line because the final estimate of the number of riders per day that would use the rail was below their initial estimates and did not meet a certain threshold which was required to be eligible for the federal funds for the project. The article also mentioned that the only reason Charlotte got federal funding for their light rail system was because they applied for their federal money in a different year when the rider ship “threshold” was set lower. If charlotte where to apply today with the new standards they would probably be denied as well.

I seem to recall that there were several flaws in the original proposed route of the rail system anyway. For example…I don’t think it could be used to get to or from the RDU Airport.

I doubt the triangle area will ever get a rail system at this point.

Governments change Also there are lots of people working on refining the actual plan.

There is a lot of question if the best plan has been put forth so far.

93% of the land has been acquired, so that doesn't sound like a "dead" proposal.

[Kevin HW Engineer]

While this is not a local communter loop, some may find this of interest. There is a high speed rail planned between Raleigh & Richmond, leading up to DC. A clip from an email on this subject:

"the preferred route from the environmental documents already filed is the old Seaboard "S" line from Nolina, NC to Petersburg, VA. Then it has a few alternative routes from Petersburg to Centralia, and on to Richmond. However, it is still a work in progress and the final decision on the exact route is yet to be determined. I have given a copy of this response to our engineer that is working on this project for the Rail Division and I have asked him to confirm this response with you. Thanks for your interest in this project."


Note: I live in Illinois, and have made 3 trips to NC rpior to my move this fall. Locals may provide more insight. The Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor map shows the the proposed bullet train route is generally within one mile of US1 between Raleigh & Richmond, the only deviation from this path appears to be through Nolina.

http://www.sehsr.org/

map of proposed route
http://www.sehsr.org/reports/studycorridormap.pdf

This appears to use existing rail right-of-ways, smoothing out some curves to allow higher speeds.


Kevin