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Per today's Raleigh News and Observer, looks like more Federal money is about to flow for the purpose of creating a new Raleigh Station from a large, vacant, building in the warehouse district.
Here is a related article with a graphic showing where this building is located. Note that the existing former Southern Railway depot is located south of the tracks between points 9 and 5.
Note also that yes, the vacant warehouse is situated inside the active 'Boylan Wye'.
And an article with an artists' renderering of how the new station might look when finished. The Amtrak platform would be out-of-sight to the left of the image and would be reached from the station by a tunnel under the parking lot.
Want more? Here's an image of the vacant warehouse as if ready for it's O. Winston Link Debut..... and this is roughly from the same point-of-view depicted earlier in the artists' rendering. The visible railroad tracks here are the active eastern leg of the Boylan Wye used to turn the consists of the NCDOT 'Piedmont'. The train generally backs to and from the servicing facility about a mile and a half north near the former Seaboard passenger station on Semart Drive. Keep scrolling..... this last link includes an interior photo as well as a couple of photos facing eastward rather than westward. Good stuff.
If anyone is so inclined to go searching for more information online, be advised that this current plan to turn the Dillion Supply Warehouse into a passenger train station is scaled back from a much larger (and much more expensive) RUS proposal put forward several years ago. There is still a bunch of information about that earlier proposal online.
I like the newer RUS proposal better because it is realistic and acheivable in the near-term. The older proposal is essentially dead now that a warehouse on land it would have occupied is being redeveloped as a headquarters building for a high-tech firm relocating to North Carolina.
Finally - there is also information on Raleigh's original Union Station dating to 1891. That building still stands as an attractive (and well-maintained) office building roughly two blocks due east of the Dillion Supply Warehouse. The tracks have been gone since Seaboard and Southern moved out for their separate depots in the 1940's.... primarily (I believe) because the original RUS was a stub-end terminal as opposed to the run-through stations in use when Amtrak was conceived.
palmland Member # 4344
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Interesting, David. I am sure NC will do a superb job on adapting the warehouse into a station. But, it appears to be a long walk to the platform? Kind of reminds me of what I saw in Sacramento.
As I recall there are several yard tracks next to the current station. Will they remain with the walkway passing over them? It'll be great if they can also provide some long term parking.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Palmland,
The new platform would be in the yard area across the tracks from the existing station though a little further northeast closer to the junction with CSX...... looking at the renderings I would say maybe 1-2 car lengths further northeast.
Access to the platform would be through a tunnel underneath the parking lot for the new station. The tunnel is depicted in purple in the 'lay of the land' link in my first post. Having walked this area on a visit to Raleigh in August, I believe the tunnel would be about 300-325 feet long. Further than one would like but not far enough to derail the project. That's comparable to the length of the tunnel which passengers at Greensboro, NC's restored station use to reach the platforms used by the Piedmont service trains.
A tunnel makes sense because the land here has a bit of a contour..... much of the length is going to be a matter of building a culvert and then covering it to prepare for the parking lot. Note also that access to the station for both vehicles and pedestrians will be via underpasses beneath the active east leg of the wye. The vehicle access will then slope upward to discharge passengers at a second level entrance.
Compared to Sacramento, the tunnel will be perhaps 75 feet longer than the walk from the waiting room to the existing Amtrak platforms. (I've seen renderings and Google Earth images of the Sacramento project and agree that the platform is going to be a looooong way from the station there when finished).
Provisions for more parking and the need for more space to accomodate the remarkable growth in passenger usage is the driving factor here.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Here is a bump of a thread I started regarding plans for a new depot in Raleigh, NC..... as inspired by the 'top 5 Amtrak stations' in each state thread.
I was mistaken in what I remembered of the source material. The article states that the Raleigh station handled more passengers than any other rail station between Richmond, VA and the 'car station' in Florida. Charlotte, which per the 'top 5' stations list handled more passengers than Raleigh, is not on the New York to Florida route.
palmland Member # 4344
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Related to this project is the new Charlotte station that has been inching along.
Here is a news article that indicates a developer has been hired. No mention of actual funding for the project.
Perhaps our President will assist with more government largesse (sorry, couldn't resist). Certainly the fastest way would be if the state and the developer could make it work without the need for federal help.
notelvis Member # 3071
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The end of the beginning for the Charlotte project.
Looks like a 10-year project. It would be nice if they could spruce up the existing Charlotte station a little in the meantime. It and Gastonia are the two seediest stations in North Carolina now.
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