From Raleigh to Charlotte in an hour

I had what I called the "absolute" pleasure two Octobers ago to take the Amtrak from Raleigh to Charlotte for a meeting. It was a trip that "did nothing but reinforce my belief that trains should be highly invested in as a critical mass transit option --whether for intra- or intercity travel." The trip took roughly the same amount of time as it would have if I had driven, except I was able to read a book, sleep or just enjoy the scenery.

Well, thanks to federal funding, that Raleigh-to-Charlotte trip could take about an hour. Nice.

"Uncle Sam is betting $520 million you’ll think twice about driving to Charlotte or Raleigh if a train can get you there in an hour," says the News & Record.

"That’s how much stimulus money the federal government gave North Carolina recently for the Raleigh-to-Charlotte run, with Triad stops in Greensboro, Burlington and High Point.

The award covers enough work to make high-speed rail a reality in the Central Piedmont in four or five years, said Gene Conti, state secretary of transportation.

“On the Raleigh-to-Charlotte connection, we’re going to be in good shape to get our average speed up to 90 mph, where we’re averaging just over 50 mph now,” Conti said. “Going from that to 90 mph is huge.”

The aim of high-speed rail at the regional level is curbing highway congestion and pollution, primarily by getting commuters off the roads.

“High-speed rail will provide business and leisure travelers with a competitive option to car or air travel for distances of 100 to 500 miles,” said Joan Bagherpour of North Carolina’s rail program. ...

The route belongs to the national Southeast High Speed Rail corridor, which eventually could extend from Washington through Atlanta. The larger route won a total of $620 million in stimulus money for work in both Virginia and the Tar Heel State.

North Carolina’s piece of the larger award was $545 million, but $25 million is earmarked for the route from Raleigh to Richmond. That route is not as close to completion as Charlotte-to-Raleigh.

“For the Raleigh-to-Charlotte (leg), we got pretty much everything we asked for,” Conti said of the $520 million.

So, before long, you can sit back and enjoy the ride. But don't get too comfortable -- you'll be at your destination before you know it.

Quick hits: A fisherman's memorial and a passenger train ... in eastern N.C.?

Fisherman's memorial unveiled in Morehead City
"His boat was the Carolina Princess. And those who knew the late James B. 'Woo Woo' Harker say he was the Carolina Prince.

" 'He taught by example and you never wanted to let him down,' said Leonard Rigsbee, a Carteret County resident who worked as a mate on the Carolina Princess just before it made its home on the Morehead City waterfront.

"Rigsbee, a former charter boat captain who now works as a boat builder, described Harker as a 'true mariner' and said it is Harker who inspired his interest in fishing and boating," says the Jacksonville Daily News. ...

"Rigsbee was just one of many whose life was touched by Harker's influence, and it was apparent in the crowd of friends and family that gathered on the Morehead City waterfront Friday evening for the unveiling of a fishermen's memorial in his honor. ..."


Local commuter rail service proposed for Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune
"Instead of driving to work, some Marines could take the train," says the Havelock News.

"A transportation committee of the Military Growth Task Force is suggesting the idea of commuter rail service between Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune.

"Danny Walsh, a Havelock commissioner and member of the task force, said a train would run in the morning and the evening along the 26-mile rail spur between the two bases.

"He said a commuter train would decrease the number of cars on the road and would also offer military members a chance to get some work done on the train.

" 'A lieutenant colonel that's going to Camp Lejeune every day could work on his laptop for the 35 minutes that he's riding down that railroad track,' Walsh said. 'He can talk on the telephone. He can rest. He can do everything except hang on to the steering wheel.' ..."

Ridin' the N.C. rails

I had the absolute pleasure -- and I don't use that term lightly -- to take Amtrak's Piedmont train from Raleigh to Charlotte a little over a week ago. It had been a decade since my last Amtrak experience -- a horrid, 18-hour (each way) affair from Raleigh to Fort Lauderdale.

Needless to say, I was cautiously optimistic about what lay before me. My previous experience coupled with the fluid and flawless rail trips in Europe -- and the horror stories of American train trips that I've heard/read about -- made me suspect that not only would the Piedmont not get to the Queen City in the estimated three hours, but that it may be a dirty, smelly and generally unpleasant trip.

How wrong I was, thankfully.

The Piedmont was scheduled to leave Raleigh at 7 a.m. (Truth be told, if there is a building in Raleigh that could use some aesthetic help, it is the downtown Amtrak depot. It doesn't exhude pleasantness.) It left at -- wha-lah! -- 7 a.m. It got to Cary at the scheduled 7:11; Durham at 7:30; and so on and so on. Yes, it lost a minute or two along the way, but I was in Charlotte at roughly 10:15 -- some six minutes after it was supposed to arrive.

The fact that I had ample leg room (made me not ever want to set foot on a plane again), complimentary snacks and drinks, and plenty of time to sit back and read (or nap), made the experience one that I will gladly recreate in the near future. True, the Piedmont and thus the Carolinian don't exactly wind their way through the Alps or France's wine valleys, but you do get to see parts of North Carolina that most folks never do: N.C. State from the windows of the train; Durham's burgeoning downtown; and towns that look like they were built up around the train, like Kannapolis and Cary.

If there is a downside to traveling the train it is that Charlotte's train station is in a "worse" part of town than Raleigh's.

Is train travel conducive all the time? No; one is still better off probably driving to places such as Orlando or, ahem, Fort Lauderdale. But trips to D.C., Philly, Boston, NYC, Charlotte and Atlanta (and, for that matter, Charleston and Savannah) SHOULD be open to efficient train trips.

This trip did nothing but reinforce my belief that trains should be highly invested in as a critical mass transit option --whether for intra- or intercity travel.

Quick hits: Rail in N.C.'s future, but sandbags are not

N.C.'s future rides on trains
"Just a few weeks ago Congress, for the first time in 32 years, increased vehicle fuel economy standards.

"Just a few weeks ago in Mecklenburg County, residents voted overwhelmingly to keep a tax to help pay for improved mass transit.

"And just a few weeks ago, the Association of American Railroads released a report that 2007 was the U.S. railroads' second best year ever for total volume, intermodal traffic and revenue -- and oil hit $100 a barrel.

"People and businesses in this country and North Carolina are beginning to think differently about our transportation future," writes Scott Saylor of the North Carolina Railroad Company in a special piece to the Charlotte Observer. "Travel and shipping delays caused by crowded, dangerous highways, environmental pollution from exhausts, and soaring energy costs are weighing on public opinion and the political process. ..."

Sandbags no longer to hold back ocean along N.C. coast
"A state decision to enforce a coastal regulation requires property owners along the North Carolina coast to remove sandbags from land threatened by the creeping Atlantic Ocean," says WRAL's Bill Leslie.

"State officials argued that the implementation of the regulation only honored the intent for sandbags to be temporary guardians against the Atlantic. But homeowners said the loss of the protection of sandbags will ensure the destruction of their homes, many of which are retirement investments.

" 'This is going to be catastrophic for the homeowners, for the state, for everybody,' said Yogi Harper, the owner of both a beach house protected by sandbags and a business that installs them. ..."