NC seeks assurance from Trump administration that high-speed train project is still a go
As state officials this week urged President Donald Trump’s secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, to help rebuild Interstate 40 in Western North Carolina, they also sought assurances that the government would follow through on a big transportation project in the Triangle.
A year ago, the federal government pledged $1.1 billion to help the N.C. Department of Transportation build the first leg of a high-speed passenger train line between Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia. The so-called S-line project was the largest of several in North Carolina underwritten by the big infrastructure bill passed by Congress in 2021.
But the Trump administration has suspended two dozen of those grants, including for the S-line, as part of a broader effort to re-evaluate federal spending.
Others on hold include $242 million to help replace the aging Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington; $110 million to replace the U.S. 64 bridge over the Alligator River; $25 million to install wildlife crossings on U.S. 64 in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge; $13.2 million to help Wake Forest build a downtown train station as part of the S-line project; and $1.8 million to develop a plan to protect N.C. 12 from ocean flooding in Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Gov. Josh Stein singled out the S-line project with Duffy on Monday, as they stood a few yards from where the flooded Pigeon River washed away a section of I-40 near the Tennessee state line after Hurricane Helene.
Duffy pledged to do what he could to pay for rebuilding the highway, which state officials estimate could cost $1 billion.
“You guys just have to tell me what you need, and I’ll tell you ‘No’ if I can’t or what I need from you guys to make it happen,” he told Stein and N.C. Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins. “We’ll partner up and get this thing going just quickly as possible.”
Stein also asked about the S-line.
“We just need to know what the lay of the land is,” he said.
Duffy was not familiar with the grant and asked Hopkins to send him the details. He described the suspension of grants as routine.
“I did what every other administration has done, I paused them to look at them,” he told Hopkins and Stein. “But what I’m hearing is now people saying, ‘OK, take a look, let’s see if we can get an answer sooner rather than later.’”
Grant would fund construction in Wake County
Duffy’s predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, announced the $1.1 billion S-line grant in December 2023. The goal was to help NCDOT transform an old freight railroad between downtown Raleigh and Wake Forest, with new track, signals, bridges and underpasses to accommodate passenger trains.
It’s the start of a joint effort with Virginia to create a high-speed rail connection between Raleigh and Washington, D.C. In the meantime, NCDOT and Amtrak plan to extend their Piedmont service to Wake Forest, starting in 2030.
After their brief conversation with Duffy on Monday, Hopkins explained why he and Stein had specifically asked about the S-line.
“That’s one of the ones that’s a primary for us,” he said. “And we’re going to make a specific ask to try to get that one rolling. At least to find out if we can share any information to help get it rolling.”
North Carolina has invested heavily in its passenger rail system, which it calls NC By Train. The state helps underwrite four daily roundtrips of the Piedmont between the Triangle and Charlotte and one daily run of the Carolinian between Charlotte and New York City.
NCDOT is also studying the possibility of establishing new passenger rail service to cities that haven’t had it in decades, including Asheville, Fayetteville and Wilmington.
NCDOT and Amtrak are providing a 20% match to the federal grant for the S-line, bringing the total budget for the Wake County segment to $1.3 billion. Part of NCDOT’s contribution is two bridges that will eliminate at-grade crossings at Durant and New Hope Church roads in North Raleigh, at a combined cost of more than $40 million.
Work on both bridges is underway. Buttigieg returned to Raleigh last summer to mark the beginning of the Durant Road project, while contractors are doing utility work at New Hope Church Road before construction of the bridge begins this summer
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
