Work on new $86M Amtrak station in Charlotte is done. You still can’t catch a train there
Construction of a new, $86.4 million Amtrak station in uptown Charlotte, including rail tracks, platforms and signals, is now complete. But how soon passengers will be able to board the first train there remains unclear.
The Charlotte Gateway Station is a joint project between the state, city and a development venture to move the Amtrak station from an outdated property location off North Tryon Street to the heart of uptown. The project also calls for a mixed-use development of residential units, a public plaza and retail.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation says its portion of the project is done and deferred questions to the city about when the station would open and timing related to the second phase. The city did not provide staff for an interview after multiple requests from The Charlotte Observer, only saying there’s no updated timeline on construction of the mixed-use component.
Ground broke for the project in July 2018. While the rail infrastructure is complete, a platform canopy and terminal including ticketing and a customer waiting area won’t be built until the second phase.
Charlotte City Council was supposed to be presented with a master development agreement this fall, according to an update given last year to the state Board of Transportation by Lilias Folkes John, public private partnerships advisor for the city of Charlotte.
But that agreement has not yet been presented and there is no updated timeline for when that could happen, city spokesman Lawrence Corley told the Observer. Corley did not respond to inquiries for requests to speak with city staff on what this means for the status of the project.
Key questions remain.
It’s unclear why the agreement has not been brought to the City Council.
It’s also unclear whether trains could start running before construction of the second phase is complete or if the plan is to wait until all the work is done.
Charlotte city councilman Ed Driggs, chair of the transportation, planning and development committee, said it’s not uncommon for projects like this to take longer than originally projected.
While a timeline is not yet clear, an update on the project would first be presented to the committee, then to City Council for more discussion and then a final vote, Driggs said. He added that it is his understanding the developers are moving forward with work.
NCDOT previously estimated passenger service could start in 2024 or 2025.
Jason Orthner, NCDOT rail division director, deferred questions on passenger service timelines to the city. NCDOT is hoping the station can open as soon as possible, he said.
Passenger-only station
Drive by the future Gateway Station and you won’t find what you might expect to see at a glistening new train station: covered platforms or a main concourse to get your tickets.
Centered around 4th, Trade and Graham streets, the platforms NCDOT has built are elevated and mostly out of sight. A platform canopy and terminal including ticketing and customer waiting will be built during the second phase, an NCDOT spokeswoman told the Observer.
Last month, NCDOT finished its rail infrastructure project, including adding two 2,000-foot-long tracks between 8th and 3rd streets, Orthner said.
Crews also built five new railroad bridges at West 4th, West Trade, West 5th and West 6th streets. The project received a $30 million federal grant. State matching funds totaled around $47.3 million; the city matched a little over $9 million.
A second phase of the project is being led by local developer The Spectrum Companies and Republic Metropolitan of Washington, D.C. Renderings shared by the city during a state transportation meeting last year show four new towers with plans for a mix of retail and residential plus a hotel. It’s not clear how tall the towers will be.
Unlike the North Tryon station, freight trains are going to bypass the Gateway station, meaning it will be a passenger-only station, according to Orthner.
That existing Amtrak station was built in 1962 by the Southern Railway Company to house its freight and passenger operations, according to NCDOT report. The smaller station can accommodate 100 people and has 78 parking spaces.
During severe storms, the station experiences flooding due to its location. NCDOT does not yet know how many passengers the new station will be able to accommodate.
The station has daily service to Raleigh as well as destinations like New York and New Orleans.
Amtrak and Norfolk Southern, which operates a rail yard off North Tryon Street, will choose whether to eventually demolish the existing station, an NCDOT spokeswoman said in an email.
‘Destination’ means more train riders
The station project is expected to increase ridership by 20%, Orthner told the state Board of Transportation last year. The North Tryon station is already one of the busiest in North Carolina. In 2019, it handled about 200,000 passengers, he said.
Moving the station to uptown means passengers will be getting on and off trains at a “destination” compared to where they board and exit today, Orthner said. The North Tryon station is a 30-minute walk to the center of uptown.
The city and state’s vision for the new station also includes connections to bus lines and City LYNX Gold Line. The planned east-west Silver Line could also run through the Gateway station.
The transportation, planning and development committee heard an update this past week about the Silver Line alignment through uptown. Two options presented to the committee included sharing a line with the Blue Line or the Gold Line.
Driggs said there are questions in how changing the Silver Line alignment could impact the timing of the Gateway Station being completed.
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 5:40 AM with the headline "Work on new $86M Amtrak station in Charlotte is done. You still can’t catch a train there."
