Amtrak Expanding Services
Amtrak recently announced expanded services in North Carolina, which may now include train services to Asheville and Wilmington.
The country’s foremost provider of intercity passenger rail service has several projects in development, which officials with the NC Department of Transportation say is a priority likely to begin soon. The company also plans to add service between Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA.
Asheville hasn’t had rail service since 1975, when the city’s last official passenger train ran for a final time. The 45 years since have seen multiple efforts to bring rail service back to the mountains, including the NC Department of Transportation’s 2001 adoption of a phased plan to build and renovate train stations with other community uses.
Such new service would be welcome in the mountain region; the only Amtrak service within driving distance is via Charlotte, for Amtrak trains traveling east to Salisbury, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh, Durham, and Apex. Those who can’t drive, who prefer not to travel by plane, students, and many who work or do business in the proposed North Carolina Amtrak service area would all be likely users of the service.
“We see it as an important and essential role for our growing state, and as we see people move here, and additional businesses come here, a healthy rail system is incredibly important,” says NCDOT Rail Division Director Jason Orthner.
The Charlotte Amtrak station will also get a new home when the gateway station opens in uptown.
