The proposed corridor would connect salisbury to asheville, NC

This $500,000 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program (CFDA 20.326) supports the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Rail Division in developing a Service Development Plan (SDP) for a proposed passenger rail corridor connecting Salisbury and Asheville, North Carolina.

The project aims to establish new intercity passenger rail service along an existing alignment that last hosted passenger trains in 1975. Key tasks include creating a project performance plan, compiling existing planning materials, developing a statement of work, and approving a project schedule and budget. The SDP will provide the necessary planning work to complete the Corridor Identification and Development (CID) Step 2 requirements for this proposed rail corridor, which would serve the Asheville and Charlotte metro areas as well as rural communities in between.

The proposed corridor would provide new service on an existing alignment between asheville and salisbury in western north carolina, following a line that last hosted passenger trains in 1975. Using service development plan (SDP) SOW framework, the corridor sponsor will develop a project performance plan (task 1.1), existing planning and development materials (task 2.1), statement of work (task 2.2), approved project schedule (task 2.3), approved project budget (task 2.4). The outcome of this project will be the project description for CID step 2, to perform the necessary work to complete an SDP. The proposed corridor would serve the asheville and charlotte metro areas, as well as rural communities in between.