NCDOT has scheduled a public meeting 4-7 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Raleigh Convention Center to hear citizen views on a new idea for routing high-speed passenger trains through downtown Raleigh: a 700-foot bridge to carry northbound trains diagonally over automobile traffic on Capital, just south of the Wade Avenue interchange.

Maps have been posted on the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor site to show the new option, called NC5, along with new modifications to three alternatives that were aired last year.   All options are still on the table. [Update: see 9/10/11 story "Rail plan looks to pass over boulevard."]

NCDOT ran into heavy opposition when Norfolk Southern Railway and residents of neighborhoods near Five Points objected to its originally favored NC3 proposal, which would have run the new trains north along the west side of Capital, disrupting Norfolk Southern's freight yard.

Lawyer Ben Kuhn and other downtown residents suggested taking the trains across Capital near where it crosses Peace Street.  The new NCDOT approach adapts that idea but moves it farther north, bridging the busy boulevard at a lower elevation just south of the Wade Avenue interchange. ... [MORE]

As a House committee prepares today to debate a Republican proposal to have the Perdue administration return $461 million in rail stimulus funds to Washington, Perdue's Department of Transportation is asking Washington for $624 million more. [4/6/11 update: see today's story with reader comments.]

North Carolina would use the new funds to:

- replace outmoded train stations in Charlotte and Raleigh,
- build new ones in Hillsborough and Lexington,
- add more freight and passenger service between Raleigh and Charlotte,
- complete the environmental studies and purchase an abandoned CSX rail corridor for a new high-speed shortcut from Raleigh to Richmond, for trains that would travel at speeds up to 110mph, and
- make rail safety improvements between Raleigh and Charlotte.

The new application (documents attached below) seeks a share of $2.4 billion in funds that became available after Florida's governor killed a high-speed rail project between Tampa and Orlando, and sent the money back.

The application was filed as the House Transportation Committee prepared today to debate a bill by Rep. Ric Killian and 12 other House Republicans to kill North Carolina's high-speed rail program, and to join Ohio and Florida in sending the money back to Washington. ... [MORE]