(The High Point Enterprise posted the following article by Michele Abbott on its website on April 11.)
HIGH POINT, N.C. — The state transportation department had good news Thursday for the 2,500-plus passengers who travel from Charlotte to Raleigh each month on the Piedmont passenger train.
The route, which serves riders in High Point and Greensboro, will be back in service today after a three-week shutdown for routine track maintenance.
Passengers who normally travel the route have had limited options over the past month because upgrade work canceled the regular Piedmont service for trains 73 and 74 Mondays through Thursdays. Norfolk Southern Railway Corporation has been resurfacing the railroad as part of routine maintenance work on the tracks between Charlotte and Kannapolis since March 18.
Julia Hegele, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said the work was completed several days earlier than anticipated.
She noted that renovations at the High Point station are still under way.
“The train is still not stopping in High Point until mid to late summer when that work will be done,” Hegele said.
Roughly $6.2 million in improvements to the 96-year-old station are being implemented, with federal dollars accounting for 80 percent of the project. The balance is being shared equally between state and local governments.
Amtrak spokeswoman Karina VanVeen said 10,790 passengers got on or off the train in High Point last year.
Since the start of the current fiscal year, which began in October, a little more than 15,000 travelers chose the Piedmont route. VanVeen said that number is down nearly 20 percent from the previous year. She said the drop is attributed to political concerns and the national economy.
“We’re seeing people take shorter trips as well,” VanVeen said. “Still, compared to other transportation services, like the airlines, we find those numbers encouraging.”