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Same here. Richmond had some of those New York fashion stores that Raleigh didn’t. My mom and my aunt loved it. They dropped us off at the movies. It was a long day.
If you do that now, you probably won't even notice. Those stupid Marvel/DC movies are 3-4 hours long.
Just saw this in the news. A federal grant to improve the rail connection between Raleigh and Richmond, cutting the trip short by an hour and therefore improving the travel time to D.C. as well.
Saw this news this morning as well. A bit of a head scratcher as I really don't think there is a strong desire in either direction for "tourism" between Richmond and the Triangle.
Saw this news this morning as well. A bit of a head scratcher as I really don't think there is a strong desire in either direction for "tourism" between Richmond and the Triangle.
Amtrak already has a route to DC.
"Leaders said Thursday the proposed line would reduce travel time between Raleigh and Richmond by an hour. It would also connect to Washington, D.C."
If they can get us to Richmond quicker, they can get us to DC and points north quicker.
This has absolutely nothing to do with travel between Raleigh and Richmond as endpoints, and the media keep screwing up by presenting it that way. It's all about travel between Raleigh and DC/Philly/NY. The objective is four hours flat between Raleigh and DC. Two hours to Richmond and two more hours to DC. The only way to achieve two hours to Richmond is reusing the right of way that was abandoned in 1986 and straightening it to allow 110 mph. Currently, Raleigh to Richmond is 3 hours 30 minutes. Just restoring the 1986 route without straightening it would bring that down to 2 hrs 45 mins.
The tipping point is when the train becomes faster than I-85/95. Sometimes it is already, depending on the I-95 traffic north of Richmond. (Hint: don't do I-95 on a summer Sunday afternoon when metro DC residents are coming home from the Virginia and NC beaches.)
Of course there is work required between Richmond and DC to get that segment down to 2 hrs flat. Currently they're running 2 hrs 20 mins.
110 mph between Raleigh and Richmond will cost at least $1 billion, and nobody knows where the money would come from. It's maybe one-third of that to restore the tracks at 79 mph.
I've seen $4 billion as the figure for the ultimate buildout of Raleigh–Richmond, though that was several years ago, so it's probably a billion or two more at this point.
Some people quote the cost of track construction (and earth-moving) alone. But signals and wayside radios must be installed. Stations must be built or (in the case of Raleigh) expanded. Locomotives and passenger cars must be purchased. Employees must be recruited and trained. Initial operations must be funded. The total number is definitely north of two billion in the full-build scenario.
That's why I favor an incremental approach of just reinstalling the track where it was and getting half the time savings by running at 79 mph max, with the existing trains at the start.
"Leaders said Thursday the proposed line would reduce travel time between Raleigh and Richmond by an hour. It would also connect to Washington, D.C."
If they can get us to Richmond quicker, they can get us to DC and points north quicker.
For work travel purposes, I would be delighted if the train was a viable option to DC (right now it's really not, since it's constantly delayed and ends up taking way longer than driving).
Plus I do keep meaning to go see the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, so I guess that would be a nice bonus as well.
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