Raleigh gets $10 million TIGER grant to help build train station (Charlotte: 2013, neighborhood)

[SunnyKayak]

Raleigh will receive a $10 million federal grant for Union Station, a new downtown Amtrak station the city is planning as a replacement for its current station. The city still needs $20 million to complete the $73 million project.
read more here
Raleigh gets $10 million TIGER grant to help build train station

[rnc2mbfl]

That's great news. Thanks for sharing!

[SunnyKayak]

It is way over due but will be functional for future growth, seperate passenger pickup from the main line and future light rail & buses. NCDOT: Raleigh Union Station

• Currently four daily round trip passenger trains serve the Raleigh Amtrak Station: New York to Charlotte Carolinian, Raleigh to Charlotte Piedmont (2), and the New York to Miami Silver Star.
• Two additional Raleigh to Charlotte Piedmont round trips are planned in the near future to meet increasing service demands.
• In fiscal year 2011, the Raleigh Amtrak Station served 192,434 passengers, making it the second busiest Amtrak station in the Southeastern U.S. Ridership in 2044 is expected to be over 600,000 passengers per year. If a new spacious station is constructed, ridership is projected to be greater than 730,000.
• The location and size of the current train station cannot accommodate expected ridership growth, nor accommodate a desired downtown multimodal transportation center. NCDOT, the City of Raleigh and the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) aligned plans, visions, and funding to develop this improved facility. It will accommodate current and future demand for intercity passenger rail, commuter rail, light rail, city bus, regional bus, taxis, bicycles, and other modes of transportation.
• The two waiting rooms in the existing Raleigh Amtrak Station provide only 1,800 square feet of passenger waiting space, often requiring passengers to wait outside. Also, the current station has only 54 parking spaces, which does not support the passenger demand. The limited parking results in vehicles double parking, as well as parking on adjacent private property, and along streets in the adjoining neighborhood.
• Project Highlights
• The project calls for reusing a TTA-owned industrial building which has been vacant since 2005. The 26,000 square foot building will provide 14,500 square feet of passenger waiting and civic space.
• Access to the boarding platforms will be via at grade concourse which is below grade only where it passes under one track to across the center island platform.
• The 800-foot long passenger platform will include a 600 foot long canopy providing patrons protection from the elements. The center-island platform will allow passengers to board from either side, thereby providing more flexibility for train operations. The platform will be level with the trains, so passengers will not have to use steps.
• Currently, when passenger trains are at the existing station, the mainline railroad track is blocked. This forces freight and other passenger trains to wait until the passenger loading or unloading is complete before they can proceed. The new facility will have a station tracks that remove passenger trains from the mainline tracks, thus improving operations for freight train operators.
• The project will displace the existing Cabarrus Yard freight storage tracks inside Boylan Wye, so these track improvements will be replaced by equivalent tracks nearby.
• The project will allow trains to pass through Boylan Wye even when passenger trains are stopped at the station, provided better operations and reliability for all trains.

[Gard]

Already discussion in another thread about this:

//www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...iangle-46.html