Passenger trains remain an exotic choice for many North Carolinians because of still-limited train schedules, the speed of air travel and the convenience of going by car. But some new data from the Brookings Institution underscores what could be a large untapped market for train service. The think tank found that so-called short-haul airline flights put an outsized load on the nation's air travel network. Trains are an obvious relief valve.
Consider air traffic within the corridor between Charlotte and Washington, D.C., a corridor that also includes Greensboro, Raleigh and Richmond. Brookings says that 1.1 million people flew last year between RDU Airport and either Charlotte or Washington, and the five cities all told handled 3 million passengers making connections among them.
It adds up to a vote of confidence in the proposed Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor -- from Charlotte through Raleigh to Richmond -- because fast rail travel would make an attractive alternative to the hassles of flying. North Carolina is bidding for federal funds to move the corridor project forward. That makes sense on many levels -- and lightening the load on airports is just one of them.
