(The following story by Mark Schultz appeared on the Chapel Hill News website on July 6.)
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Art Mines knew the train passed by Hillsborough. He heard it each night as he drove to his home just north of town.
Woudn’t it be great, he thought, if instead of riding the train from his job in Greensboro to Burlington and then getting in his car for the final lap of his commute, he could ride the train all the way?
So Mines, a pediatric audiologist, wrote a petition asking people to sign if they supported a railroad station in Hillsborough. He put in on the counter at Cup A Joe’s and waited.
About 400 people signed.
On Friday, a year after Mines started his petiton, town leaders announced that not only had Amtrak determined a Hillsborough train stop made financial sense, but the town was buying land for a possible future station.
“This is not just about rail,” Mayor Tom Stevens said. “It’s really about how in the first half of the 21st century we’re going to get around.”
The property
The transit site would go somewhere on about 20 acres north of Daniel Boone Village that the town intends to close on this fall. The town has signed an offer to purchase the land for $600,000.
The property was in the Daniel Boone redevelopment plan proposed and then withdrawn by American Asset Corp. last year. It includes ball fields used by Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association. The town would continue to lease the fields to the association.
Other than the transit stop and ball fields, the town has no immediate plans for the site, said Town Manager Eric Peterson. Still, it makes sense to bank the land now because the town will need it as it grows he said.
“We know we’re going to have space needs, but we don’t have any land,” Peterson said.
The purchase will be funded over 15 years, at about $58,000 per year. The money for this fiscal year is already in the town budget and represents about 1 cent on the tax rate.
Amtrak meeting
Town officials met with Amtrak and Department of Transportation officials two weeks ago to discuss rail service.
Four trains currently pass through Hillsborough each day on two routes. The Carolinian travels between Charlotte and New York City, with stops in Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia. The Piedmont travels between Raleigh and Charlotte.
According to an Amtrak financial analysis, the company could make $56,000 a year by adding a Hillsborough train stop.
“It’s a small amount considering Amtrak’s overall budget but enough to recommend moving forward with establishing a rail stop,” Stevens said.
The town’s next steps include developing a plan of how rail service would fit into Hillsborough’s overall development, such as plans for land use, road networks and transit, bike and pedestrian access.
A comprehensive review of local rail infrastructure, including nearby road and pedestrian crossings, would also be needed.
And the town would need to find a way to pay for construction.
Based on current costs, a platform with lighting and a canopy could run $1 million and a station building another $5 million to $6 million.
Mines is optimistic.
With gas prices fueling train ridership, state officials announced last month a new mid-day service between Charlotte and Raleigh will be added within a year.
From October 2007 to April 2008, total ridership was up more than 22 percent. On the Piedmont, ridership was up almost 26 percent from 28,309 to 35,681 passengers; the Carolinian was up 18 percent from 136,358 to 161,445.
Mines boards the train in Burlington four days a week to complete his trip to Greensboro. If he could board in Hillsborough he estimates it would take him about the same 50 minutes he’d need to drive all the way.
But on the train he can chill.
“I’m not just in the car, go, go, go,” he said. “I feel so much more relaxed when I get to work.”