North Carolina stands to reap benefits of high-speed rail stimulus funding
By Tom Baxter
Southern Political Report
March 10, 2009 — North Carolina has been a rail-friendly state, as a matter of policy, going back to 1848, when the legislature authorized the construction of a rail line to connect the piedmont with the coast. The 300-mile corridor which began with that decision is now the property of the North Carolina Railroad, a private company owned by the state, which bought the required railcars so that Amtrak would provide service on the line. Alone among states in this region, North Carolina’s Department of Transportation has a full-fledged Rail Division with a staff of planners, engineers and technicians. And the state was a leader in the development of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor, which envisions a high-speed passenger line between Charlotte and Washington, D.C. The SEHSR is one of 10 high-speed corridors designated in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which former President Bush signed last October. That bill only gave out a few million dollars in planning money, but it has become the avenue to a much larger trove of federal assistance. With $8 billion set aside in the stimulus package for development of intercity high-speed rail service, North Carolina’s longstanding policy leaves the state positioned to benefit from an infrastructure windfall. “What I say when I talk to groups in the region is that North Carolina is the only state that has a more aggressive plan than we do,” said Ross Capon, president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. Despite “tremendous untapped potential” in Texas and Florida, the work which has already been done to develop the Southeast corridor leaves North Carolina and its partner Virginia as the only Southern states likely to benefit directly from this portion of the stimulus package, Capon said. The result, over decades, could be as crucial to the development of the economic spine of the emerging piedmont megapolis as the old coast-to-piedmont line was to the opening of North Carolina. “If you look into the future and how we’re growing, the Southeast is hot. Where are they going to put all those people, and how are they going to move them around?” asked Patrick Simmons, who has headed the Rail Division since its formation in 1994. Simmons, whose college training was in marine biology and psychology, speaks with enthusiasm of how communities can become invested in the rail system through programs like the one for station improvements which won the state a National Trust for Historic Preservation Award. The state finds itself in an advantageous position relative to most of its neighbors, he said, because “We’ve been at it for a while.” The next step in the process of doling out the high-speed money comes April 18, when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is required to come up with a comprehensive plan for spending the high-speed rail money, with guidance to applicants by June 17. (By the way, might LaHood possibly be the most powerful Republican left in Washington, D.C.?) North Carolina isn’t unique in the investment it has made in the potential for passenger rail, Capon said, just unique in the South. “I don’t think they even know what a train is in Georgia,” the passenger advocate said. Which means that most of that $8 billion will likely end up being spent elsewhere. |
