Gov. Perdue announces high-speed rail money

Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that the federal high-speed rail grant to North Carolina will create or maintain as many as 4,800 private sector jobs in North Carolina over the next four years, with 1,000 of those expected this year alone as ready-to-go projects get under way.

The jobs will come from more than 30 projects in 11 North Carolina counties that the governor identified today. The projects are being funded with the $545 million the state received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for further development of the Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) Corridor and the state’s intercity passenger rail program.

“These rail projects are going to have far-reaching benefits for North Carolinians,” said Gov. Perdue. “They will put people to work while providing transportation, environmental and energy benefits through reduced congestion and improved air quality.”

The projects include purchasing and rebuilding locomotives and passenger cars, improving stations, building passing sidings and double tracks between Greensboro and Charlotte as well as closing highway-railroad crossings, upgrading private crossings and constructing new highway bridges.

The projects are located in Alamance, Cabarrus, Davidson, Durham, Guilford, Halifax, Mecklenburg, Nash, Northhampton, Rowan and Wake counties and range from $340,000 in Cabarrus County for station improvements to more than $129 million in Mecklenburg County to begin modernizing the rail network. Several projects will begin in the next few months.

Since the U.S. Department of Transportation designated Charlotte to Washington, D.C. as a high-speed rail corridor in 1992, NCDOT has invested more than $300 million in the state’s intercity passenger rail service for renovation and construction of train stations, track improvements and corridor preservation projects in order to pave the way for high-speed service.

The state’s high-speed rail and intercity passenger rail grant award meshes with the goals outlined in NCDOT’s new Complete Streets policy, which calls for a diverse transportation infrastructure that encompasses all modes of travel, from bicycles and ferries to cars and rail. The corridor project is also in conjunction with the Statewide Logistics Plan, which leverages the state’s assets to improve the economic well-being of all North Carolinians.

SEHSR is being developed incrementally between Charlotte and Washington, D.C. and will serve as a main street for East Coast travel. It will provide business and leisure travelers with a competitive alternative to air and auto for trips between 100-500 miles at top speeds of up to 90-110 miles per hour and an average speed of 86 m.p.h. ARRA funding will enable North Carolina to continue its program of upgrading existing rail right of way.

North Carolina partners with Amtrak and currently provides daily service to 16 North Carolina cities and to destinations along the East Coast.

ARRA made available $8 billion in competitive grants for high-speed and intercity passenger rail across the country. Last month, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced the $545 million award for North Carolina to improve safety, service reliability and build network capacity—laying a foundation for more trains and higher speeds.

Additional information is available at www.bytrain.org, www.sehsr.org and www.ncdot.gov.

Information from a news release sent to the WWAY NewsChannel 3 Newsroom.