New study advances 110-mph trains between Richmond and Raleigh

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North Carolinians and Virginians will be invited this summer to comment on a 666-page study, released today, on the wide-ranging impacts of a proposed 162-mile line for trains that would run as fast as 110 mph between Raleigh and Richmond. [See 6/4/10 story "Tracks might divide Raleigh" with reader comments.]

The two states received $620 million in federal grants this year to provide faster and more frequent passenger train service south of Raleigh and north of Richmond, as part of the proposed Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor from Charlotte to Washington, D.C.

The new draft environmental impact study advances their quest for more than $3 billion in federal funds to build the new route between the two state capitals. It follows U.S. 1 and primarily uses a partly abandoned CSX line.

“This is a significant step in completing the high-speed rail line from North Carolina to Washington, D.C.,” Joseph Szabo, the federal railroad administrator, said in a prepared statement. “We are very pleased with the multi-state cooperation and agreements with the railroads, which will serve as a model for other states in pushing high-speed rail beyond their borders.”

With trains running faster along a route 35 miles shorter than the current Amtrak line through Selma and Rocky Mount, the new track would reduce the trip time from nearly four hours to a little over two hours.

The line would have a single track, with a five-mile long siding added every 10 miles to allow for passing trains. It would have no at-grade rail crossings where cars drive across the tracks.

More than 100 existing crossings would be closed, including some in Raleigh, and nearly 100 new bridges and underpasses would be built to separate cars and trains at other crossings.

Two daily round-trip trains would travel nonstop between Raleigh and Richmond. A third would stop at a new station in LaCrosse, Va., and a fourth would stop at a new station in Henderson.

Public hearings will be scheduled in July in Norlina, Raleigh, Henderson and Franklinton. The environmental study and other details are available online at www.sehsr.org.