8 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Spectrum News 1, 12/5/20:

 

Amtrak Expanding Service in N.C. with Major Projects in Development
  

 

Like all travel industries, Amtrak has had to make changes during COVID-19.

 

However, train service is still on track to increase in North Carolina, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.

 

Read

[KevinKorell]

AVL Today newsletter, 12/8/20:

 

   Amtrak rail service could be coming to Asheville, NC      

 

 

Over the weekend, news broke that Amtrak is expanding its service in the Tar Heel State. The railway’s 500+ destinations in 46 states may now include Asheville + Wilmington. 

 

Story

 

Take with a grain of salt any headline that uses terms like "could" or "may" or "might".

[KevinKorell]

Asheville, NC Citizen-Times, 3/28/23:

 

 

   Answer Man: What's the latest on Amtrak expanding to Asheville?  

 

Question: What happened to Amtrak expanding service to Asheville? Will it happen and when?

 

Answer: Asheville has had no official passenger rail service since 1975, but there have been attempts for decades to return it to the mountains. 

 

Entire article

[KevinKorell]

WXLV-TV, ABC-45 in Winston-Salem, NC, 8/9/23:

 

 

    NCDOT cautiously optimistic passenger train project could get major federal funding    

 

 

It’s been years in the making and now some state leaders are cautiously optimistic Asheville, this fall, could get approved for major federal funding for an estimated $665 million passenger train project.

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

Asheville, NC Citizen Times,  9/7/23:

 

 

   Asheville passenger rail line plan see's positive responses from WNC Rail Committee    

 

 

The draft of the 2023 Western North Carolina Passenger Rail Feasibility Study has seen positive responses from local governments and rail corporations, said Jason Orthner, director of the North Carolina Department of Transportation Rail Division. 

 

Story

[KevinKorell]

Opinion in Asheville, NC Citizen Times,   9/17/23:

 

 

  Opinion: Asheville has a chance to bring back Amtrak passenger train system      

 

 

In an age when car travel dominates transportation, it is difficult to conceive of a time when six passenger trains a day ran between Asheville and Lake Junaluska in Haywood County, while another four connected our city to Murphy in Cherokee County.

 

Opinion

[KevinKorell]

Asheville, NC Citizen-Times, 12/8/23:

 

 

    'Most requested location': Asheville most desired city for NC Amtrak stop: NCDOT study  

 

 

Nearly $3.5 million has been approved for identifying new rail routes across North Carolina, including $500,000 to identify and develop an Asheville to Salisbury passenger rail corridor.

 

Story

[CNJRoss]

Asheville (NC) Citizen Times via MSN.com, 12/26/23

 

'It's coming': Asheville Amtrak feasibility study brings calls for funds, advocacy

 

ASHEVILLE - While attending summer camp at Camp Ridgecrest in 1962, Steve Little would stay up late, struggling to sleep through the night. In the distance, and through a symphony of crickets, he could hear something: the sound of a distant train.

 

"It's going slowly and down shifts," Little said. "And that sound — I still remember that. And I used to imagine: 'Where has that train been?' and 'Where is it going?'"

 

SNIP

 

. . .  It only could be freight — Western North Carolina doesn't have passenger rail, at least not anymore.

 

In 1975, the last passenger train left Asheville's Biltmore Station and didn't return. However, in 2023, the tracks switched in a new direction.

 

The recent, revitalized effort to restore passenger rail to WNC comes with the Dec. 8 release of the finalized feasibility study from the North Carolina Department of Transportation and $500,000 in federal funding.

 

In the study, the upper estimate for ridership is 550,000 people a year, which alone could bring a yearly total of nearly $10.9 million in fare revenues.

 

 

More here.  

[KevinKorell]

WLOS-TV, ABC-13 in Asheville, NC, 4/1/24:

 

 

   If Amtrak trains are coming to Asheville, what route will they take?    

 

 

There is a proposed train route from the mountains to Salisbury that just went through a feasibility study last year.

 

Read