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

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.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Rahman, Mushtaqur
  • Shekhar, Shashank
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Feasibility analysis; Forecasting; Railroad commuter service; Ridership; Travel demand
• Identifier Terms: Interstate 40
• Geographic Terms: Raleigh (North Carolina); Research Triangle Park (North Carolina); Selma (North Carolina)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01556654
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-0061
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 11 2015 9:09AM