Description

The City of Raleigh and NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) are proposing to construct a new passenger train station in downtown Raleigh at 510 West Martin Street. The station would replace the existing Amtrak Station on Cabarrus Street, which routinely experiences overcrowding and lacks the adequate platform size to serve the longer trains that access the station.

News and Updates

Public Meeting

The public is invited to attend the third of several public information sessions regarding the planning and design of the future Raleigh Union Station, on May 1, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at CAM Raleigh, 409 West Martin Street, Raleigh NC 27601.

The second public information sessions was held on March 6, 2013. Presentation slideshow

Schedule

• The station and track design began in January 2013 and is scheduled to be completed in late 2014.
• Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2015, and be completed in early 2017.

Project Overview and Purpose

• Currently four daily round trip passenger trains serve the Raleigh Amtrak Station: New York to Charlotte Carolinian, Raleigh to Charlotte Piedmont (2), and the New York to Miami Silver Star. Two additional Raleigh to Charlotte Piedmont round trips are planned in the near future to meet increasing service demands.
• In fiscal year 2011, the Raleigh Amtrak Station served 192,434 passengers, making it the second busiest Amtrak station in the Southeastern U.S. Ridership in 2044 is expected to be over 600,000 passengers per year. If a new spacious station is constructed, ridership is projected to be greater than 730,000.
• The location and size of the current train station cannot accommodate expected ridership growth, nor accommodate a desired downtown multimodal transportation center. NCDOT, the City of Raleigh and the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) aligned plans, visions, and funding to develop this improved facility. It will accommodate current and future demand for intercity passenger rail, commuter rail, light rail, city bus, regional bus, taxis, bicycles, and other modes of transportation.
• The two waiting rooms in the existing Raleigh Amtrak Station provide only 1,800 square feet of passenger waiting space, often requiring passengers to wait outside. Also, the current station has only 54 parking spaces, which does not support the passenger demand. The limited parking results in vehicles double parking, as well as parking on adjacent private property, and along streets in the adjoining neighborhood.

Project Highlights

• The project calls for reusing a TTA-owned industrial building which has been vacant since 2005. The 26,000 square foot building will provide 7,950 square feet of passenger waiting area, thereby quadrupling the waiting area of the existing Amtrak Station.
• Access to the boarding platforms will be via a below-grade or overhead concourse.
• The 800-foot long passenger platform will include a 600 foot long canopy providing patrons protection from the elements. The center-island platform will allow passengers to board from either side, thereby providing more flexibility for train operations. The platform will be level with the trains, so passengers will not have to use steps.
• Currently, when passenger trains are at the existing station, the mainline railroad track is blocked. This forces freight and other passenger trains to wait until the passenger loading or unloading is complete before they can proceed. The new facility will have a station tracks that remove passenger trains from the mainline tracks, thus improving operations for freight train operators.
• The project will displace the existing Cabarrus Yard freight storage tracks inside Boylan Wye, so these track improvements will be replaced by equivalent tracks nearby.
• The project will allow trains to pass through Boylan Wye even when passenger trains are stopped at the station, provided better operations and reliability for all trains.

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.