RALEIGH – The N.C Department of Transportation has received a $47.5 million federal grant to purchase the S-Line rail corridor between Raleigh and Ridgeway in Warren County.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded this grant to the department’s Rail Division as part of the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program. This investment into the Southeast Corridor will provide better connections between rural and urban communities while also spurring new economic development opportunities. In addition, the corridor will help offer improved freight services, and will trim up to 1.5 hours off passenger rail services between Raleigh, Virginia and D.C.
“A modernized freight and passenger rail network will connect the Southeast while spurring new economic development opportunities,” said Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette.
In 1992, the U.S. Department of Transportation named the Southeast Corridor as one of the first five federally designated higher speed rail corridors in the country. The corridor is a network of passenger and freight rail that runs from Washington, D.C. to Jacksonville, Fla., encompassing D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.