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New passenger rail welcome in North Carolina

With Durham’s new Amtrak station set to be on line this summer* and its new bus station opening next week, timing couldn’t be better for local governments to engage in a little self-reflection focused on our urban transit systems.

PBS takes a look at the politics and success of Charlotte’s new light rail line (see below). Through self-puffery, McCrory comes off sounding like he doesn’t think other cities can do something as successful as Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line, but the fact of the matter is there is a lot of money designated for mass transit in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The video includes an interview with one of my favorite NC transportation “experts,” David Hartgen.

This may be North Carolina’s — and the Triange’s — best chance in years to move out of the fossil age and into the 21st century. Hopefully the Southeast High Speed Rail corridor, the Macon-Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte Rail Corridor, and the Western North Carolina Rail project, as well as municipal/interlocal light rail systems will all get a boost from the stimulus package.

This is not a time to think small, and in the coming year we’ll see just how broad thinking our local leadership really is.

*Note: Durham once had a great train station; let’s see if we can keep this one.

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