(The following story by Bruce Siceloff appeared on the News-Observer website on December 21.)
RALEIGH, N.C. — Business is getting better for Amtrak in North Carolina, and that’s getting to be a problem for downtown Raleigh.
The capital is blessed with one of the railroad’s busiest stops in the Southeast and hobbled with one of its littlest stations.
Last year more than 140,000 riders stepped on or off the six trains that stop each day at the modest brick station on West Cabarrus Street. Amtrak offers free parking for travelers, and its tiny lot fills up fast.
“If you go down there, it’s a danged zoo because of all they’re trying to fit in,” said Patrick B. Simmons, Rail Division chief for the state Department of Transportation.
Especially at holiday time. A record Thanksgiving crush saw as many as 900 passengers a day streaming through a station that has only 57 parking spaces.
Later this week Amtrak will call in extra workers to manage the parking-lot chaos, keeping people and bags flowing from car to train and back again. Many Christmas travelers will have to leave their cars several blocks away in a parking deck on Salisbury Street.
The parking pinch will get worse next summer when Amtrak launches a big improvement in rail service between Raleigh and Charlotte: a pair of trains, subsidized by the state, leaving the two cities at midday. That will give riders at both ends of the line a choice of three times each day instead of two.
Even before next year’s expansion, crowding at Raleigh’s station has forced some Wake County riders to try other Amtrak stations in Cary and Durham. Simmons lives in North Raleigh, but he drives to Durham when he has to catch a train because it’s easier to find parking there.
Meanwhile, Amtrak asks riders to catch a ride or take a taxi to the 4,720-square-foot Raleigh station.
“But that only gets us so far,” said Mike Jerew, Amtrak operations manager for North Carolina. “We don’t want to stunt our growth. We’re hoping people aren’t turned off by our current situation. We’re strapped at this facility.”
Amtrak passenger counts were up 11 percent nationwide and 20 percent in North Carolina during the fiscal year that ended in September — and not just because of $4 gas.
“We haven’t seen a corresponding decrease in demand as gas prices have come down below $2,” said Jeff Mann, a regional Amtrak manager based in Raleigh. In October and November, the Raleigh station measured a 27 percent increase over the same two months in 2007.
Even with pump prices close to $1.60 now, Amtrak passengers say they have plenty of reasons to stick with the train.
“It’s still cheaper for me,” said Ted Manby, 48, a Wake Forest pastor. He was riding the Amtrak Piedmont from Raleigh to Charlotte last week — relaxing in a refurbished rail car called Gray Squirrel — to attend the board meeting of a missions organization.
Greater comfort
“It’s better on my back to be able to stretch,” Manby said. “There’s no stress from the traffic. I’m able to not lose that seven hours all driving. I’m able to read or bring my laptop — and plug it in right here.
“And it’s actually faster,” he added.
Track improvements since 2001 have cut 30 minutes from the travel time between Raleigh and Charlotte. Now, even with seven stops along the way, the Piedmont makes the run in 3 hours, 12 minutes.
Amtrak has improved its on-time arrival record in the past year, reducing delays blamed largely on conflicts with freight rail traffic up and down the East Coast. Amtrak’s Jeff Mann says the trains that pass through North Carolina arrived on schedule 85 percent of the time in November, compared to 64 percent in November 2007.