SALISBURY — On Oct. 11, while many notable officials from all over the area waited for his arrival, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner got off the train at the Salisbury Station on Depot Street to address a crowd of mayors and stakeholders on the status of North Carolina’s intercity passenger rail system.

The North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, as part of their Rail Response initiative, orchestrated the event to personally find out from NCDOT and Amtrak where intercity passenger rail stands today and where it is heading in the coming years. Members of the coalition include the mayors of Concord, Kannapolis, and of course, Salisbury.

“This is such an important issue for us here in Salisbury. Salisbury has a long history with rail and I am convinced that it will be a big part of our future,” Mayor Karen Alexander said.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal has increased access to government funds for passenger rail and state officials are now applying for federal grant money. Alexander says the city’s two main priorities are expanding passenger service on the Piedmont corridor and have the Western N.C. Rail, a project that could potentially connect Salisbury to Asheville, be approved.

NCDOT Manager of Planning and Development Ronald Lucas gave a presentation on the intercity passenger rail system that extends across multiple states.

“Our focus is on intercity passenger rail,” Lucas said.

Intercity passenger rails are supported by the Federal Railroad Administration and tend to have longer trips and longer distances between stations compared to light or commuter rails. There are currently five roundtrips a day from Charlotte to Raleigh, but Lucas said that there will be a sixth on the horizon. Last year, ridership figures were higher than they were pre-COVID and 2023 is already an improvement over 2022.

There are 12 pending passenger rail corridors that are waiting for the FRA’s approval. Of these 12 are the Western N.C. Rail and other routes that center on lower volume freight corridors with selections expected later this fall. As the population in the Southeast increases, the Washington D.C. to Charlotte corridor becomes more vital to how people travel and Lucas said that they will be “enhancing that network” by growing coverage in underserved regions. In Lexington, a Siemens Mobility Plant has broken ground where Amtrak intercity passenger trains are going to be made. The $220 million facility will create over 500 new jobs.

Gardner gave a speech at the end of the meeting where he praised North Carolina and the entire Southeast for its commitment to rail service. Over their entire 50 years of existence, Amtrak’s overall service has decreased, but the Southeastern population has grown exponentially, which Gardner said is the reason they are finally zeroing in on its potential. 

“The sustained focus that the state has had on investing in passenger service and long term planning has meant that state service has grown, Amtrak’s support and collaboration has grown, and the state is now in a great position to compete for future federal investments to build on this great foundation of service and expand to other parts of the state and add more service frequency on the routes that already exist,” Gardner said. 

Amtrak has stated it is are available to support the state’s plans and will contribute to the foundational work on markets, revenue and ridership, capital investments and examining fleets. Gardner says as corridors are selected, implementation will be the main subject, where hiring employees, maintaining fleets and other technical aspects of rails will come into the forefront.

“It takes a while to get new services started, building that coalition, sustaining it, and helping to activate more communities and more citizens about the value is what’s necessary to sustain it over the long term,” Gardner said. 

As Salisbury waits on a decision on which corridors will be selected, Alexander will be continuing raising money to match federal grants. Having the coalition contribute to expanding rail service in North Carolina is essential to accomplishing their goals and to accommodate those who rely on passenger rails.

“We’re going to be doing the advocacy work on behalf of the rail department because DOT, they don’t have the ability to go for funds, but we say mayors for our communities do, so we’ll be doing that. It’s very exciting to have mayors from east to west that are a part of our workgroup. We’re all working together for the greater good,” Alexander said. “It affects economic development, it affects prosperity of the people who ride because it gives them a different mode of transportation.”