Triangle Transit still likes the idea, but there aren’t many cheerleaders left for a proposal to run high-speed passenger trains through the Norfolk Southern freight yard along the west side of Capital Boulevard.

Norfolk Southern Railway blasted that notion this week in a 17-page letter to the state Department of Transportation.

(Below are links to the full comments from Raleigh, Norfolk Southern, and the town of Wake Forest.  Here are comments from Triangle Transit.)

Raleigh city leaders originally floated the Norfolk Southern option two years ago – but lately they’ve had second thoughts. The city’s formal comment Friday on DOT’s high-speed rail project was a 34-page package of mixed messages. ... [MORE]

View SEHSR alternatives in a larger map

The Raleigh City Council backed away today from taking a stand on any of the state’s proposed downtown routes for a new fast-train line from Raleigh to Richmond, Va., and it asked state officials to add other possible routes to their study.

The council asked the state Department of Transportation to analyze three alternative train paths – two suggested by residents last week and a third broached Tuesday by council member Thomas Crowder.

Each of the three new ideas involves a long railroad bridge that would carry high-speed passenger trains high over Capital Boulevard. Crowder suggested running the elevated trains north and south, parallel to the busy thoroughfare, as part of an expansive downtown development project.

The alternatives sketched last week by groups of residents would move the trains from the west side of Capital to the east side, on a long curving bridge either just north or just south of Peace Street.

Council member Russell Stephenson said the new options looked better than DOT’s proposals either to run the trains north along the west side of Capital, through a Norfolk Southern rail yard, or through a CSX yard on the east side. ... [MORE]

View SEHSR alternatives in a larger map

While residents north of Wake County worry that the proposed Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor will split their small towns in half (see today's story, "Small towns fret rail plans," with reader comments), the Raleigh City Council is receiving a task force recommendation today on which of two paths for the fast trains will cause less harm to the city's downtown.

The advisory group voted 8-1 in favor of the Norfolk Southern corridor (brick red on the map you see here) along the west side of Capital Boulevard, instead of the CSX route (blue) on the east side.

The City Council may decide today to schedule its own public hearing on this, before council members stick their necks out and actually state their preference to NCDOT. [8/4/10 update: Hearing scheduled Aug. 31. See today's story.] ... [MORE]

A citizen task force on passenger rail service voted 8-1 today to endorse the Norfolk Southern Railway corridor, on the west side of Capital Boulevard, as the path for proposed fast-train service between Raleigh and Richmond, Va.
Norfolk Southern has lobbied against this option, contending that it will disrupt the railroad's freight yard, hurt its customers and hurt residents of the nearby Five Points neighborhood. Spokesmen for two Norfolk Southern freight customers, Cargill and Golden State Foods, criticized the proposal at a public hearing Monday in Raleigh.
The alternate path considered by the state Department of Transportation would route the new passenger trains through a CSX corridor from Jones Street to Wake Forest Road on the east side of Capital Boulevard.
The City Council will consider the Norfolk Southern recommendation at its Aug. 3 meeting.
Some residents have criticized the DOT proposal to close all at-grade rail crossings, turning some into dead-end streets and converting others to bridges.
Will Allen III, co-chairman of the city council's advisory task force, said task force members agreed today that safety was important, and they endorsed the DOT proposal to close the Jones Street and Fairview Road crossings on the Norfolk Southern tracks.
The group will recommend that DOT take other steps to ease the effects of closing the crossings.

View SEHSR alternatives in a larger map

Norfolk Southern Railway wants to make friends fast in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood, so it will pitch an air-conditioned tent at its freight yard office Saturday for a “family / community day” with “food, a dunk tank & games for the kids! FREE!” [7/21/10 update: see print edition story with Norfolk Southern comments.]

The railroad says its freight operation would suffer – and so would its Five Points neighbors – if the state Department of Transportation decided to route fast passenger trains through Norfolk Southern’s yard on the west side of Capital Boulevard.

Norfolk Southern apparently hopes to hear its views echoed by Five Point residents at a public hearing Monday on the impact in Wake County of the proposed Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.

Lu-Ann C. Perryman, a Cary lobbyist, delivered invitations to Five Points homes this weekend for the Saturday event. The cards say that residents attending the gathering will hear from “informed speakers and concerned neighbors about a better route for Five Points.” ... [MORE]