Wednesday, Feb. 03, 2010

Transit dollars could help Cary

A $545 million federal rail service grant to North Carolina will mean big changes in western Wake County.

The grant, announced Thursday, comes from stimulus money approved by Congress to start building a national high-speed passenger rail network.

Passenger stations, platforms and parking lots will be expanded at the Cary train station, located on North Academy Street.

The station upgrade will increase ridership, lead to faster and safer boarding and enhance customer service at the "heavily used station," according to the state's approved grant application.

Other funded projects include new bridges to replace rail crossings at Hopson Road in Research Triangle Park - with construction expected to start in a few months - and at Morrisville Parkway in Morrisville.

The projects are part of a broader effort to expand to accommodate faster and more frequent trains between Charlotte and Raleigh.

North Carolina's share will create 5,000 jobs and service around 30 projects to straighten curved tracks, add double tracks, upgrade stations, build bridges to separate train and automobile traffic and expand the state's fleet of locomotives and rail cars.

By the summer, the state Department of Transportation plans to add a third daily round-trip train between Raleigh and Charlotte, meaning an extra stop in Cary during the middle of the day. The federal money will add a fourth train to the schedule in the future.

Track improvements will speed up trains at spots where they have to slow down now, and by 2015 the top track speed is expected to increase from the current 79 mph to 90 mph.

A timeline for project work is unknown but state officials said the DOT would quickly put together a detailed schedule.