GREENSBORO, N.C. — Those who try to beat the train to the crossing better hit the brakes and wait starting Aug. 1, reports the Greensboro News & Record.
Maximum speeds for passenger and freight trains in towns between Raleigh and Greensboro will jump significantly then, made possible by safety improvements to tracks and crossings.
The maximum 59 mph that Amtrak’s Piedmont and Carolinian passenger trains now travel in rural areas will be allowed through Graham, Burlington, Elon and Gibsonville and eventually Mebane and east Greensboro. Right now, the trains slow to 25 in Mebane, 35 in Graham and Burlington, 55 in Elon, 50 in Gibsonville and 20 on a one-mile stretch through east Greensboro to the South Elm Street crossing downtown.
The slower speeds in Greensboro and Mebane will remain until signal improvements are completed in October for Mebane and in Greensboro near the end of the year.
For freight trains, top speeds that now range from 15 to 45 mph in these same towns will jump to 49 mph, the limit already allowed in rural areas.
Julia Hegele, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation’s rail division, says the state agency and Norfolk Southern are attempting to make speeds more consistent between Raleigh and Greensboro and to some extent, between Greensboro and Charlotte.
Right now, trains go a certain speed for, say, five miles, slow down for one mile, then speed up again. Crossing and track improvements make more uniformity possible, she says.
Not everyone wants to see freight and people zipping faster through town. Mebane Mayor Glendel Stephenson says town officials have expressed concern to the state about the jump from 25 mph to 49 mph for freight and 59 mph for passenger trains. The tracks split Mebane down the center.
“They have upgraded the three crossings but there have been problems with the arms (the gates) coming down,” he said. “The mechanical devices have not worked properly.”
Hegele says she wasn’t aware of malfunctioning signals in Mebane, only that the work on one crossing continues and won’t be done until autumn.
Mebane and many other towns once set speed limits for trains. In 1906, a Greensboro man hauled Southern Railway (now Norfolk Southern) into the mayor’s court charging that trains passed through the city at 30 mph to 40 mph. A local ordinance set the speed limit at 10 mph. Southern’s attorney defended the higher speeds, declaring the railroad had watchmen posted at every grade crossing. Greensboro Mayor Tom Murphy fined Southern $25.
In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled communities could no longer set train speed restrictions.
Hegele says faster trains won’t mean less time for motorists to react. Signals at crossings have been adjusted to allow the same interval between the time lights and bells start up and when the train arrives.
The increase to 49 and 59 mph maximum speeds on the 81-mile section from Raleigh to Greensboro — which handles 12 to 16 trains a day — is still slower than the 60 and 79 mph limits on tracks between Greensboro and Charlotte. The 92-mile Greensboro-Charlotte section forms part of Norfolk Southern’s main line from Washington to Atlanta, carrying as many as 44 trains a day. These tracks tend to be straighter and there are long stretches of parallel double tracks.
The maximum speeds between Greensboro and Charlotte will be boosted in some places, again because of grade crossing improvements, Hegele says. For example, she says, nine grade crossings in Thomasville have been reduced to two in recent years. With so many grade crossings, Thomasville had a history of train-car collisions. The town’s mayor was killed in one accident years ago.
Between Raleigh and Charlotte, some 25 crossings have been closed and 89 improved, paid for by federal funds, Hegele says. In Alamance and Guilford counties, costs ranged from $41,900, to update the crossing at Gilliam Road near Burlington, to $144,000 for improvements at the Oakdale Road crossing in Jamestown.
Hegele says the greater speeds should reduce travel time between Raleigh and Charlotte by 10 minutes. At present, the Piedmont takes 3 hours and 3 minutes between Raleigh and Charlotte and the Carolinian, 2 hours and 57 minutes.
Even greater speeds are in sight as the state strives to make rail travel between Raleigh and Charlotte an attractive alternative to Interstates 40 and 85. The state plans to spend $24 million in the next few years to improve tracks and close more crossings between Raleigh and Charlotte. The improvements include adding a second track from Jamestown to High Point.
And the federal government plans to begin high-speed rail service in the Southeast. That project, with a route through Richmond, Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte, will mean even more track improvements and closed crossings to clear the path for trains that travel more than 100 mph.