Trains, Trains, and Trains

There was a meeting last night at the Government Center hosted by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The main focus was improvements to be made to rail lines as it affects the downtown area of Charlotte.

One of the main points was changing the CSX rail line that runs east and west, paralleling the Brookshire Freeway and spanning I 77 near the Johnson C. Smith Campus. This also runs past the growing North Carolina Music Factory. That line crosses over two Norfolk Southern lines as they converge behind the ADM Grain Silo's near the Northwest edge of the Fourth Ward. This CSX line will be dropped below grade by some 30 feet!

The most noticible impact this will have on us will be the reduction of noise as the trains will no longer need to blow their whistles as they pass over other tracks, and will no longer need to be staged to allow other traffic to pass.

This will also open the way for expanded and upgraded Amtrak traffic as it will approact the new to be built Amtrak Station on Trade Street near Graham.

One thing about railroads, they are sometimes slow, but they are steady and relentless. The light at the end of the tunnel is significant progress coming to Charlotte!