staffer

Has the second station track at RUS been cut in yet?

My understanding of commuter rail is that the grassy area between the track and the station will become the commuter rail platform, and will be accessible without going through the station. Not sure if another track is planned just serving commuter rail. But that’s a design that was presented to the passenger rail task force in 2015 and it’s a bit fuzzy in my memory.

New opening date for AMTRAK service announced as July 10

Special event service from JW Clay Blue Line Station for upcoming races at the Speedway http://charlottenc.gov/cats/bus/riding-cats/Pages/CATSSpeedWeek.aspx Ride CATS to the Monster Energy All Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 On Saturday, May 19, 2018, and Sunday, May 27, 2018, CATS will operate bus service from the LYNX Blue Line J.W. Clay Blvd. Station to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Monster Energy All Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600. With the opening of the LYNX Blue Line Extension, customers attending this year’s races at Charlotte Motor Speedway now have additional locations to board the light rail. Customers can ride from any of 26 light rail stations to Charlotte MotorSpeedway, beginning at I-485/S. Blvd Station, through Uptown Charlotte to University City. Parking is available at eleven LYNX Blue Line Park and Rides. When customers arrive at J.W. Clay Blvd. Station, please exit the station and walk across the street to the parking garage. The bus stop for the Speedway Shuttle is located at the bus bay behind the parking garage. Look for the bus headway sign that reads “Speedway Shuttle.” The bus service will begin the day of the race, starting at noon, and will operate every 20 minutes until 6:00 p.m. Fare for the LYNX Blue Line is $4.40 for a roundtrip and your ticket is valid onboard the Speedway Bus Shuttle Service. Tickets can be purchased from self-service vending machines located at each light rail station, or from the CATS pass mobile app. Tickets can also be purchased via the CATS website. Advance ticket purchases can be mailed or picked up at the Charlotte Transportation Center by 4:00 p.m. the day of the race. Customers parking at University City Blvd. or J.W. Clay Blvd. parking garages must have a valid pass in order to use the park and ride. Passengers may bring small coolers that fit in their laps, but no eating or drinking is permitted onboard CATS trains or buses. Pick-up and drop-off locations at the Speedway will be near the track’s entrance. After the checkered flag, buses will line up and wait for passengers before departing back to J.W. Clay Blvd. Station.

AMTRAK Station is in the zone for Parkwood !!

an annual parking permit for residents is $450.00. That works out to (with 32 academic weeks) about $2.80 per day. Both $6.60 and $10 are WAY more than $2.80. Of course students get unlimited light rail for $25 per semester so they pay nothing extra per day. Seems to me the real problem with having free parking in the deck is that students could just leave the car there for the semester.

I think the issue is students who would just park there in September and leave the car for days or weeks until they might need it for some activity not on the BLE, or to go home on the weekend or break.

Has CATS released any light rail ridership totals for Friday, Saturday or Sunday?

Typically in the business world the words "Grand opening" are puffery and have no connection with anything

Just got email fro City of Raleigh that grand opening of RUS is April 30 at 9:30 am

and here is the LRT schedule effective March 16: http://charlottenc.gov/cats/bus/schedule-change/Documents/18-03/501%20LYNX.pdf (except 7th St to UNC-C opens 10 am Friday March 16)

OK, we have the "inaugural" of the BLE Friday at 10 am, with 12:15 am basketball doubleheader at Spectrum Arena with UNC-Chapel Hill playing. Probably over around 5 pm. Then a second doubleheader at 6:40 pm with possible end to the second game around midnight. What could go wrong? Is service actually starting BEFORE 10 ? Certainly would be a good idea. Will we have continual peak hour service all day ? Shorter headways than usual that evening? I assume this is all planned -- it was known when they set the March 16 opening that this would be one of the biggest non-Panthers game events of the year Uptown.

email from City of Raleigh indicates Raleigh Union Station opening may be pushed back to April 30 or May 1

likely in a drawer at Norfolk Southern

Heard in Charlotte yesterday at BLE light rail inaugural that Raleigh Union Station dedication will be April 27. Also got an email from a friend in Raleigh today with same info. Presumably AMTRAK service shifts there that day. Also heard from two folks in Charlotte that the third Piedmont train will have its first run June 4 (tentative) but no schedule out yet.

Wonder whether there will be a speed-up in full opening of the line, or a 21-day gap between inaugural run and March 16 opening.

If the reconfigured bus routes don't take effect until a few days after the BLE opens March 16 no one is harmed as long as the existing routes along North Tryon remain in service as is until switchover. I think it's almost better NOT to make those changes the same day.

could be mistaken but I think maybe to add a second through freight track. There will be two center island station tracks when Union station opens this spring, and one through freight track (the track that goes by the current AMTRAK station). Right now just east of the current AMTRAK station everything narrows to one track until a freight siding several miles east, so not sure if plan is to extend second track further east (would require a new bridge/bridges at overpasses east of current station

It's in the "Carolina Rails" closed FB group I'm in Here's a link to the group to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/171718566220486/

Saw a post this morning on a Facebook rail group that completion had been pushed back to May 2018, blame assigned to major error in grading for station tracks.

I saw a tweet this morning that BLE revenue service is now scheduled for FEBRUARY 1

coming from the prison there are TWO tracks going northeast -- first the NS track (which meets the CSX track at Southern Junction and crosses the mainline at a diamond and heads to Fuquay and points further south) and then the CSX track which wyes with the track that runs on the east side of the news station.

went to the legislative meeting this afternoon. Mayor Nancy spoke 5 minutes, then Roberta Fox and Tom Eatman. Fox and Eatman never used the phrase "Phase II", and never mentioned SEHSR. They called phase II "RUS BUS" repeatedly. It will have 6 or 8 bus bays and will allow the 30% expansion of bus service in the Wake Transit Plan as being the second downtown Bus Hub. No mention of shuttles between RUS BUS and Moore Square (pardon me "GoRaleigh Station"). The West Street extension under the tracks (design funded by the referendum on the ballot next week) got a brief mention as apparently there will be a West Street BRT route originating at RUS BUS that doesn't require passengers to cross either an active street or RR tracks if they board at RUS BUS. Not sure where it goes after leaving RUS. Western Blvd ? S Wilmington St? New Bern Ave ?

RUS status update for legislative committee meeting October 2 in Raleigh (meeting is open to public) http://ncleg.net/documentsites/committees/house2017-187/2017-2019%20Biennium/2017-10-02_Meeting/RaleighUnionStation.pdf http://ncleg.net/gascripts/DocumentSites/browseDocSite.asp?nID=363&sFolderName=\2017-2019 agenda: http://ncleg.net/documentsites/committees/house2017-187/2017-2019 Biennium/2017-10-02_Meeting/Agenda_2017-10-02.pdf

Piedmont 3rd frequency (meaning 4 trains a day RGH-CLT counting the Carolinian) was funded by the just enacted NC budget, service start date probably around 6/1/18, timetable probably out October or November 2017