Description

The NC Department of Transportation proposes to construct a locomotive and railcar maintenance facility south of Uptown Charlotte. The facility would be located adjacent to the existing Norfolk Southern Railroad (NS) mainline, across from Charlotte Pipe and Foundry on West Summit Avenue.

The primary purpose of the project is to construct a facility that will improve the efficiency of the maintenance and service operations for existing and future conventional passenger trains in the Charlotte Area. The project also will assist in the future implementation of the Southeast High Speed Rail corridor by providing a facility that can service the future higher speed train sets.

News and Updates

Public Meeting

A Citizens’ Informational Workshop was held on March 27, 2012 at the Clanton Park Pavilion.

Project Overview and Purpose

• There are currently three daily round trip passenger trains that serve the Raleigh to Charlotte Piedmont corridor. A fourth train, the New York to New Orleans Crescent also serves Charlotte. NCDOT and Amtrak are proposing to operate additional passenger trains along the Piedmont corridor in the near future.
• Currently, trains layover and are cleaned on a single service track within the busy Norfolk Southern Charlotte Switching Yard west of the Amtrak Station passenger platform.
• The length and location of the existing service track severely restricts the type of maintenance functions that can be performed, and limits the servicing operations that can be performed on the trains before they make their northbound trips.
• The current service area cannot be expanded, and it will be impossible to provide adequate services for additional trains in the future, due to the limited capacity.

Project Highlights

• Construct an enclosed facility that will be used to conduct major maintenance operations on existing and future passenger train equipment, and including parts warehousing and offices.
• Construct a refueling facility with an onsite above ground fuel tank.
• Construct an enclosed wash facility
• Construct an Amtrak crew base.

Contact Information

Resources for Local Property Owners

In many cases, it is inevitable that a certain amount of private property must be acquired. The displacement of homes and businesses is minimized to the extent practicable. The following brochures will answer questions about this process.