(rshsdepot) Goldsboro, NC

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Goldsboro News Argus.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Union Station not detoured by commuter train study 
 
By Anessa Myers October 19, 2008 
 
A study by the North Carolina Railroad Co. that indicates Union Station in  
downtown Goldsboro, which is currently under restoration, would not be part of 
a  commuter rail service planned by the state does not mean the project will 
be in  vain, supporters say. 
 
The railroad study was released earlier this month, showing a  
Greensboro-to-Goldsboro route. But state railroad officials said the refurbished  Union 
Station, which sits alongside the tracks of another railroad line, will  not be 
part of the commuter service. 
 
Union Station, which hasn`t been used in decades, sits on CSX Railroad  
lines, which are currently used for freight. Charlie Gaylor, president of the  
Wayne County Railroad Task Force, said the restoration of the station was never  
intended to be part of any commuter rail service that would run on the state  
railroad line. 
 
Commuter rail service is different from regular passenger rail service,  
Gaylor said. Commuter rail runs the same quick route over and over. Passenger  
rail service, which Union Station once served, is intended to carry passengers  
on longer journeys. 
 
What county and city residents need to understand, though, is that  
``commuter rail service and passenger rail service are two very different  things,`` 
Gaylor said. 
 
``They (commuter railroads) need the shortest distance in a straight line  
from one point to another,`` Gaylor said. 
 
Even the types of train cars used for each service are different, Gaylor  
said, with the commuter train cars built lighter than those used for passenger  
rail, he added. 
 
The Goldsboro project was never intended to be part of the state`s commuter  
plans, he said. 
 
``Our focus was getting passenger rail service through there all along,``  
Gaylor said last week. 
 
The discussions of a passenger rail service -- or in Union Station`s case,  
Amtrak service -- started when the state Department of Transportation released 
a  study in 2005 saying it was feasible for the service to run from Raleigh to 
 Wilmington. 
 
The question then became, will the service go through Fayetteville or will  
it go through Goldsboro? 
 
That`s when the county railroad task force formed, as community leaders  
hoped that a showing of leadership from the community would be helpful to  getting 
the service to go through Goldsboro, Gaylor said. 
 
It was only after that that the N.C. Railroad Co. came into the picture,  
talking about commuter rail service, he said. 
 
And when the study results came out earlier this month about the  feasibility 
of the commuter rail going back and forth between Greensboro and  Goldsboro, 
serving more than 2 million people along the way, he said he wasn`t  
surprised. 
 
``We could have two services running through Goldsboro,`` Gaylor said. 
 
And if both would run through the city, Downtown Goldsboro Development  Corp. 
Director Julie Thompson said that she didn`t see why the N.C. Railroad Co.  
and CSX wouldn`t work together to make a connection between the stations. 
 
Gaylor said he assumes there would have to be some connection also, either  
with bus service or a service provided by the two companies. 
 
``I would think they would do what is economically smart for both of them,  
and I think this would be,`` Gaylor said. 
 
But, Gaylor said, both projects are still in early stages. 
 
``What people don`t get is that the studies say that this is all feasible  
for Goldsboro,`` Gaylor said. ``That`s a great thing.`` 
 
Another great part about the passenger rail service that will likely go  
through Union Station, Gaylor said, is that people can go anywhere in the  country 
that Amtrak serves. 
 
The 11-month study released Oct. 9 by the N.C. Railroad Co. found that  
commuter trains and freight trains could coexist on the railroad company`s  tracks. 
 
The study said new tracks, sidings and bridges along the total 141-mile  long 
stretch of railroad line from Greensboro to Goldsboro would cost $650  
million, and the equipment and support facilities for the service would cost  
another $350 million. 
 
It concluded that if commuter trains could travel to and from Goldsboro and  
Greensboro on the railroad company`s corridor, there would likely be 29 stops 
in  seven counties. Eighteen colleges and universities would be within two 
miles of  the proposed commuter trains. Commuter trains typically run in the 
morning and  afternoon rush hours and once midday over long distances, according 
to the  study. 
 
The N.C. Railroad Co., Norfolk Southern and state Department of  
Transpor-tation have invested an estimated $60 million in recent years for  straightening 
curves, adding tracks and making other improvements between  Goldsboro and 
Greensboro. The groups plan to make $161 million more in  improvements by 2012, 
with even more tracks needed. 
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1793
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org