The proposed corridor would connect raleigh to wilmington, north carolina

The North Carolina Department of Transportation Rail Division received a $500,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the Federal Railroad Administration under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program (CFDA 20.326). The funding will support the development of a Service Development Plan (SDP) for a proposed passenger rail corridor connecting Raleigh to Wilmington, North Carolina. Key deliverables include a project performance plan, existing planning documents, a detailed statement of work, project schedule, and budget. The outcome of this project will be the preparation of a project description for the next phase of the corridor development process. The proposed corridor would serve the Wilmington, Goldsboro, and Raleigh-Cary metropolitan areas, as well as rural communities in between. The award period runs from March 2024 to May 2026.

The proposed corridor would provide new service on an existing alignment, part of which has been abandoned and would need to be reconstructed, to include new stations. 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 wilmington goldsboro, and raleigh-cary metro areas and rural communities in between.