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Serving Princeton, Rosewood, Brogden, E. Johnston Co., W. Wayne Co., North Carolina |
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Commuter rail may eventually come to PrincetonBy Barry Merrill 09 January 2008 — Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine going down to the Princeton Train Station and catching the 3:10 to Raleigh, maybe Greensboro. That was the vision cast for the Princeton Town Board Monday night during the regular monthly meeting. Officials representing the North Carolina Railroad made a presentation on an effort they are putting together on the feasibility of a commuter rail service along the NC Railroad lines that would link Goldsboro to Greensboro. Their feasibility study does not suggest when such service might become a reality, other than to say for their planning purposes they are using 2020 as a potential date. Mayor Don Rains shared there has been significant excitement about that possibility in Goldsboro and the potential that holds for that city. Princeton Town Board members seemed a bit taken back by the possibility that Princeton might become a stop along the way. Engineer Jim Kessler and Transportation Planner Alan Tobias of HNTB, a Virginia firm with a Raleigh office has been commissioned to do a study, made a Powerpoint presentation to the town board on what they are looking at. While there would be significant capital investment accommodate the additional traffic on the single rail line between the two points, and NC Railroad’s first commitment is to the freight traffic that provides most of their revenues, Mr. Kessler and Mr. Tobias suggested there were significant factors that pointed to the feasibility of such service. Their study suggested that there would be four trains going in each direction during commuting times, perhaps hourly, and perhaps a mid-day train. They are suggesting that commuting time to Raleigh would be 45 minutes. While the number of stops along the way would have to be justified, they are expecting 2 1/2 to 10 mile intervals between stops. A stop would be about 2 1/2 minutes, including deceleration and acceleration, and only about a minute actually stopped at any station. Unlike light rail or heavy rail, these trains would operate on the normal tracks, and would be push-pull units. They would not actually turn around, but would have an engine on one end that would pull in one direction, and push, directed by a cab on the other end on the reverse trip. Mr. Kessler said that three factors that they knew would be important in making the commuter rail attractive would be safety, cleanliness and reliability. Mayor Rains said that the old Princeton depot had been moved out to a nearby farm, and conceivably could be moved back to the old depot property if the owners of the depot and old property were agreeable. Selma has refurbished their old depot, and Goldsboro has discussed similarly using their old depot. Mr. Tobias said that the town might want to do something like that to attract traffic to nearby downtown businesses, though parking, depending on the numbers of commuters using the lines, might be another consideration. Commissioner Brandon Holland asked what impact that might have on the railroad’s willingness to improve the grade intersection at Barden Street which many emergency services personnel oppose closing. The two HNTB representatives suggested that if this were to become a reality, certainly that might be considered.
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