North Carolina upgrades its main stem

© 2004, NCI, Inc.
Destination Freedom
Newsletter of the National Corridors Initiative, Inc.
Vol. 5, No. 7, February 16, 2004
Used with permission

North Carolina is spending about $24 million to make significant track and signal improvements between Raleigh and Greensboro. NCDOT’s Pat Simmons said in January that would cut at least 20 minutes off the travel time between the two cities – and once work the is completed, travel time for passenger trains will shrink to about 80 minutes from one hour, 40 minutes.

On Thursday, NCRR and NS reported that Faulconer Construction Co. of Charlottesville, Va. has been awarded a contract to begin replacement of state highway 54 railroad bridge in Research Triangle Park.

The $5.5 million track and bridge project, at MP H64.1, will take approximately 20 months to complete, authorities said. Once completed, it will allow for increased freight and passenger train capacity and the expansion of Highway 54 to five lanes and two sidewalks, greatly improving traffic flow in and around Research Triangle Park.

The 317-mile, state-owned corridor links Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh and extends to the state’s seaport at Morehead City. Norfolk Southern Ry. operates trains along the entire corridor under a lease agreement with NCRR. CSX Transportation shares operation of a portion of the NCRR corridor between Raleigh and Cary.

The 85-mile H Line stretches from Greensboro to Raleigh, and the rest of the work in this year’s project begins at MP 283 in Greensboro and ends at MP 380 in Charlotte.

A typical location is Funston Siding between mileposts H47.8 and H49.9, about 50 miles east of Greensboro. Current track speed is around 60 mph, but when the work is finished, including inserting ties, it will be up to 80mph and a two-mile-long siding. A one-mile long siding was at the site.

The state is investing state, federal and surface transportation funds throughout the state to improve existing tracks, install new signals and build stretches of new track to improve the state’s rail infrastructure.

Working with the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR), Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) and CSX Transportation, the NCDOT is upgrading existing rail corridors to improve safety, efficiency and capacity for freight and passenger train services.

Simmons said NCDOT provided the preliminary engineering and design plans and is paying for all of the rail improvements with state transportation funds.

NS wrote the final plans and is doing the actual construction. The work that is currently underway should be completed this year.

The first phase of the Highway 54 bridge project is to build a portion of the new deck for the main track. After the main track is realigned over the new bridge, the old span will be removed and the remaining deck for a second track will be completed. Reduced track curvature in the realignment will allow train speeds up to 79 mph. The new bridge will allow for increased rail capacity and will be located to allow room for the Triangle Transit Authority’s planned regional rail bridges over Highway 54 within the NCRR corridor.

“The existing bridge, built in 1927 when there was little traffic other than farming vehicles, has a horizontal opening of only 25 feet,” said Scott Saylor, NCRR President. “It is a bottleneck on what has become a main artery.” The overhead clearance is currently only 13 feet, 4-inches, which restricts passage of most trucks. The new bridge will have a vertical clearance of 16_ feet and a horizontal opening of approximately 90 feet, and will allow the North Carolina DOT to widen and improve state route 54 between Davis Drive and Miami Blvd.