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Over half a century ago, Hillsborough residents looking to travel to nearby locations could catch a train at the local train station. The Town of Hillsborough is looking to make that possible again. The draft of the Comprehensive State Rail Plan recently released by the NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has the existing Amtrak route re-established in Hillsborough at a train station scheduled for construction in 2018.
The new station will be built south of downtown on Orange Grove Street and will include a passenger station building, platform, utilities, and parking. The 20-acre site is owned by the Town of Hillsborough, which acquired it in 2008 while looking for suitable sites for a train station. A Capital Improvement Plan from Hillsborough says there will be a connector to South Churton Street and connections with local and 420 buses in the way of a Park and Ride.
The project is supposed to cost around $8.4 million, with $7.68 million to be supplied by the NCDOT. The rest of the $720 thousand is expected to come from the Orange County half cent sales tax for transit projects. The station is expected to have 12 riders per day.
The last time the old West End station was used was in 1964, and it took 43 years for the idea of a new station to sprout. A petition was posted in Cup A Joe by Art Mines requesting public support for a passenger train station in town. This led to the Town of Hillsborough looking for potential locations, which coincided with Amtrak deciding that placing a train station in Hillsborough would be profitable. The next step was passing the transit tax, which provided $700 thousand of the $8.4 million needed. The remaining $7.7 million will be provided by funding from the DOT and can clear the way for the station to be built.
The construction of the station coincides with the introduction of Wi-Fi for trains in the Amtrak Piedmont route, which goes through Greensboro, Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham, and many other smaller towns.
The draft plan which includes the extension of rail service is a part of NC Governor Pat McCrory’s 25 Year Vision for NC, and it fulfills the freight and passenger rail component of the plan. The draft is scheduled to be finalized in June.
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