N.C. Department of Transportation Rail Division Director Jason Orthner discusses the new train line from Raleigh to Richmond and how its getting back on track
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Transcript
15 segmentsGoing from Raleigh to Richmond, Virginia can certainly take some time, but the North Carolina Department of Transportation's rail division is looking to make it a lot simpler and much more expedient. And joining us now is the rail division director, Jason Orfner. Jason, how are you? Doing great, Jeff. Great to be on your show today. Great. A little bit about your background. This is not just something you were put in place to do. I mean, designing rails has been a lifelong passion for you, hasn't it? It has. Ever since I was a kid, when I got my first train set out of a Sears catalog, when I was seven years old, I've just loved trains and found a way to get myself into a career doing exactly what I love. And this... line that I was talking about, just a moment ago, this route is the S line. It's currently a freight line, but it's something that could make things a lot more expedient. I mentioned going from Raleigh to Richmond, but it's actually something that goes a little bit east of Raleigh. Is that correct? That's correct. So the S-line is just a really interesting project. It's one we've been working on for quite some time with the Federal Rail Administration. What that project really is doing is taking what, as you mentioned, is a freight line that was really one of the most busy freight lines in the southeast until it was downgraded in the 1980s. And it's connecting, using that freight line, basically to better connect or make a more direct connection between a really robust train system they have in Virginia with what we're seeing successful train operation here in North Carolina in a better way, more efficient, faster, and more frequent passenger road travel. And it's also going to connect other communities across the state, which other communities? Right. So part of the vision of what we have, you know, and building on the success of what we've seen with our current system is reaching not just the communities that we serve today, which is all those between Raleigh and Charlotte and between Raleigh and to the east and Wilson, Selma, Rocky Mountain those communities, but also get to places like Wilmington, Goldsboro, Winston, Salem, Asheville, and other places in between. And the S-line really would serve as the core route connecting all those communities to a more robust East Coast system. Now, how much will this cut down on travel times?
Well, we estimate as much as an hour and a half of travel time saved just for what we see and experience today with train travel. But what our real goal is is to make the trip very reliable, very comfortable, and very competitive with car travel, especially on those days where there's tremendous congestion on our highways making it so you can get to the center of these cities all up and down the East Coast much faster and more conveniently. Right. So over the last year, this project was in the planning stages about three years ago, though, right? Yeah, that's correct. It's been in planning stages for some time. We've received some really good grants to the Federal Rail Administration, working with the current administration now to advance the engineering on the project. We actually have a couple of the safety components of project underway. Durant Road and New Hope Church Road and Raleigh are both under construction, which will take those roads over the track. So there's a lot of work already underway. Right. So over the last year, you've worked with representatives in order to get funding restored for this, right? Well, we've worked, yes, we've worked closely with a myriad of offices across the state from our state senators, Senator Bud and Thom Tillis, as well as our area representatives to make sure that, you know, a project like this, which is important and competitive across the nation, continues to receive the attention it needs. But like I said, we've had some great partnerships with the current administration, with the federal railroad administration to advance the project. Absolutely. And when are you looking at officially opening this route? Well, we're working on, we have grants to basically start the construction of the first segment, which is Raleigh to Wake Forest. The most complicated piece of the project allows to extend our Piedmont service to Wake Forest upon completion. We're targeting that to be complete in the early 2030s, allowing that service to continue, and then build it in segments as we receive additional funding going north. Absolutely. So it's wonderful that people can check out this S line. Currently, it is a freight line, but hopefully within the next few years here, it will wind up coming to fruition. And people can get to know Richmond a lot better and other communities across the area a lot better as well. Jason, we thank you so much for your time. Jason Orfner with the State Department of Transportation. He is the Rail Division Director.