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Title:

Commuter Rail Service in the Research Triangle Region: If We Run It, Will They Ride?

Accession Number:

01556654

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

A feasibility study was prepared for the North Carolina Department of Transportation to evaluate a commuter rail service between Selma and Raleigh in the Research Triangle region. The proposed rail service is intended to provide a choice for commuters to travel using an alternate mode and thereby avoid traffic congestion along the I-40/I-440 Beltline during a major freeway reconstruction project that will take more than three years. Because commuter rail service currently does not exist in the Research Triangle region, the obvious policy question was – “if we run it, will they ride?” The freeway construction project will have lane closures from five lanes to three lanes in each direction along the Beltline between US 1/64 in Cary and I-40/I-440 split in Southeast Raleigh, which is a major freeway in the region carrying 120,000 vehicles per day. The transit agencies have already started express bus services to Raleigh from several jurisdictions in the region. The proposed Selma to Raleigh rail service would be an additional option to serve the travel demand during the freeway construction project. The feasibility study applied the Research Triangle region’s travel demand model and the Federal Transit Administration’s Simplified Trips-on-Project Software (STOPS) model for ridership forecasting. The results indicated that the proposed startup rail service will only serve a limited number of Beltline trip origins and destinations. Overall, the proposed Selma to Raleigh startup rail service was projected to have low ridership due to sparse land use, presence of alternate arterial routes, inconvenient station accessibility, and limited train departure time choices.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP070 Commuter Rail Transportation.

Monograph Accession #:

01550057

Report/Paper Numbers:

15-0061

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Rahman, Mushtaqur
Shekhar, Shashank

Pagination:

14p

Publication Date:

2015

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Identifier Terms:

Interstate 40

Subject Areas:

Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-0061

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 30 2014 12:11PM