Commuter rail in Wake and Durham counties would cost up to $1.8 billion, study says
A commuter rail system running 40 trains each weekday between Garner and Durham would cost $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion to build and carry 7,500 to 10,000 passengers a day, according to preliminary estimates from the regional transit agency GoTriangle.
The 37-mile commuter rail line would connect the Triangle’s biggest cities of Raleigh, Cary and Durham as well as Research Triangle Park by following the existing rail corridor owned by the N.C. Railroad, a state-owned private company.
GoTriangle says at least 34 miles of new tracks would need to be built in the corridor for commuter trains, because the existing tracks are already heavily used by Amtrak and freight trains. About 27 Amtrak and freight trains pass through the busiest stretch of the corridor, between Raleigh and Cary, each day.
The feasibility study from GoTriangle provides the most refined details to date about the commuter rail system proposed by transit plans in both Durham and Wake counties.
GoTriangle says the study and its cost and ridership estimates are preliminary and are intended to help local governments decide whether to pursue the project further. The agency plans to present them to local government boards in the coming weeks, and started Monday morning with Durham county commissioners.
Durham commissioners expressed caution about the project in the wake of the failed Durham-Orange light-rail line. GoTriangle abandoned plans to develop the 18-mile light-rail project between Chapel Hill and Durham last March, in part because Duke University and the N.C. Railroad balked at providing needed right-of-way.
Commissioner Ellen Reckhow said GoTriangle and others involved must make sure commuter rail has the support it needs to succeed before the county commits money to help pay for more detailed engineering studies.
“We need, before we expend more capital monies, to make sure that all the key stakeholders are on board,” said Reckhow, who also serves on the GoTriangle Board of Trustees. “We’ve got to learn from what happened with light rail and not presume anything.”
“We don’t want to be burned again,” said Wendy Jacobs, who heads the board of commissioners and also serves on the GoTriangle board. “So this is going to be tough. It really is going to be a tough decision.”
Commissioners echoed concerns raised by another GoTriangle board member, Durham Mayor Steve Schewel, in a letter written in October and shared with commissioners Monday. While Schewel said he backs the commuter rail project, he said there must be strong public support and involvement and planners need to know what to expect from the N.C. Railroad.
“Candidly, the city has great apprehension about proceeding with the commuter rail project without full awareness of the requirements of the North Carolina Railroad Company and Norfolk Southern, particularly, but not exclusively, in the downtown area,” Schewel wrote. “We ardently seek to avoid a situation where we invest significant time, effort, and resources in a project and later learn about costly and impactful design requirements.”
For its part, the N.C. Railroad issued a statement Monday noting that it is taking part in the commuter rail study and is “working closely with all parties involved.”
“We look forward to continued collaboration with a focus on the highest safety standards and forward-thinking planning to achieve a commuter rail plan that operates successfully with current and future freight and Amtrak service needs,” the railroad said.
Federal funding needed
GoTriangle’s plan calls for up to 20 round trips per weekday — eight round trips each during the morning and evening commuting hours and two round trips during the midday and evening hours. The trains would stop at Garner, downtown Raleigh, N.C. State University, Cary, Morrisville, Research Triangle Park and downtown Durham.
GoTriangle looked at six scenarios, including two involving seven and 12 daily round trips between Garner and Durham. The other three options covered seven, 12 and 20 round trips per day on a longer commuter rail system between Selma in Johnston County and Mebane in Orange County. The agency is also evaluating 20 round trips a day between Durham and Clayton and between Hillsborough and Clayton, but won’t have an assessment of those routes until later this month.
For now, GoTriangle says operating 20 round trips a day between Garner and Durham serves the most riders for the money and is the scenario that would most likely win favor with the federal government, which would be counted on to provide as much as half of the construction cost.
“It will be very important to have federal funding to make this project affordable,” Katharine Eggleston, GoTriangle’s chief development officer, told Durham commissioners.
GoTriangle expects commuter rail would draw people who would otherwise drive. The agency predicts more than 55% of rail passengers would come from households with two or more cars, compared to less than 10% of GoDurham bus riders.
Durham commissioners said they’ll want more information about who would be served by commuter rail and how that compares with the needs of Durham residents. Commissioner Heidi Carter said seeing the percentage of GoDurham riders who depend on the bus to get around makes her more inclined to focus the county’s money and energy on improving that service.
“I put that ahead of the commuter rail,” Carter said.
Public involvement questioned
GoTriangle was scheduled to present the results of the feasibility study with Wake County commissioners Monday evening, but GoTriangle had not yet arranged to share them with town and city councils in Cary, Durham, Morrisville or Raleigh. Speaking at the Durham commissioners meeting, the head of the city’s transportation department, Sean Egan, criticized GoTriangle for not reaching out to the cities and their residents sooner.
“To date, despite potentially significant impacts to many communities along the corridor, the project has not conducted any public engagement,” Egan said. “It is particularly important for the community to be engaged prior to limiting the options under consideration.”
It’s about cultivating relationships, said commissioner Brenda Howerton.
“If people are not at the table and then you try to bring them in after you’ve made the decisions, you’ve got problems,” Howerton said.
Eggleston replied that GoTriangle is trying to develop the data the public and local governments can use to decide whether commuter rail is worth further study.
“Asking entities to commit before sufficient information is available for them to make a decision is also something that can be problematic,” she said.
This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Commuter rail in Wake and Durham counties would cost up to $1.8 billion, study says."
