Carolinian (train)

The ''Carolinian'' is a daily Amtrak passenger train that runs between New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina, with major stops in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Cary, Durham, and Greensboro. The service is the longest state-supported route in the Amtrak system. Northbound trains leave Charlotte at breakfast time and arrive in New York in the early evening, while southbound trains leave New York during the morning rush and arrive in Charlotte in the evening.

The ''Carolinian'' began operation in 1990 and is jointly funded and operated by Amtrak and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). Additional corridor service between Charlotte and Raleigh is provided by the ''Piedmont''. The two trains are marketed by NCDOT under the NC By Train brand.

The train operates over the Northeast Corridor between New York and Washington, D.C. The North Carolina portion of the route runs along the North Carolina Railroad, a state-owned railroad which is leased to Norfolk Southern.

History

For most of Amtrak's first two decades, service in North Carolina was limited to long-distance trains, which were not well-suited to regional travel. The Piedmont from Greensboro to Charlotte continued to be served by Southern Railway for much of the 1970s; Southern had been one of the few large railroads to opt out of Amtrak in 1971. However, Southern drastically reduced its remaining service in 1976, including its remaining medium-haul trains going through the state, before handing its remaining service to Amtrak in 1979.

First iteration

Amtrak first introduced the ''Carolinian'' on October 28, 1984, in partnership with the state of North Carolina. It was originally a section of the , which ran between New York and Savannah, Georgia. It ran from Charlotte to Raleigh, where it stopped at the old Seaboard Air Line Railroad station. From there, it ran to Henderson to Collier Yard south of Petersburg, Virginia. At Richmond, Virginia, the ''Carolinian'' joined the ''Palmetto'' for the journey to New York along the Northeast Corridor. The southbound train operated in the reverse direction, splitting from the ''Palmetto'' in Richmond while the ''Palmetto'' continued to Savannah. North Carolina supported the ''Carolinian'' with a $436,000 yearly subsidy from Charlotte to the Virginia line. It was the first direct Raleigh—Charlotte service in 30 years and the first North Carolina-specific service in 20 years. An early alternative name for the service was the ''Piedmont Palmetto''.

Amtrak intended the ''Carolinian'' to be a one-year pilot project, and was very open to making the route permanent. However, while ridership exceeded expectations, revenues did not: most passengers traveled within North Carolina and did not continue to the Northeast. Amtrak was also hampered by the proliferation of cheap airfares from Charlotte and Raleigh to the Northeast. Amid losses of $800,000, Amtrak discontinued the ''Carolinian'' on September 3, 1985, after North Carolina declined to increase its subsidy. Supporters of the ''Carolinian'' blamed Amtrak and the state for not marketing the train properly; many passengers were unaware that the train went all the way to New York.

Second iteration

Amtrak and North Carolina re-launched the ''Carolinian'' on May 12, 1990. Like the original, it was originally a section of the ''Palmetto,'' only this time the split occurred in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. This incarnation proved successful enough that in April 1991, Amtrak made the ''Carolinian'' a full-fledged day train running from Charlotte to New York. While the ''Palmetto'' runs through from Richmond to Alexandria, Virginia; the ''Carolinian'' stops at Fredericksburg and Quantico (shared with '' Northeast Regional'' trains going to Newport News or Norfolk) before continuing on to Alexandria.

In 1995, the ''Carolinian'' was joined with a sister regional train, the ''Piedmont,'' which runs along the I-85 Corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte–the southern leg of the ''Carolinian.'' The ''Piedmont'' was originally due to enter service in 1993, but was delayed when Norfolk Southern insisted that Amtrak build a new wye in Charlotte to turn the ''Carolinian'' and ''Piedmont'' around. Previously, the southbound ''Carolinian'' had to make a time-consuming 10-mile deadhead trip to the nearest wye in Pineville, North Carolina.

In 2004, the ''Carolinian'' began bypassing BWI Rail Station.

On March 9, 2015, a northbound ''Carolinian'' collided with a tractor-trailer that was stuck on the tracks in Halifax County, North Carolina. The locomotive landed on its side, while all of the cars remained upright. There were no fatalities, but 55 people were injured.

In April 2020, NCDOT and Amtrak suspended the ''Carolinian'' as part of a larger round of service reductions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ''Carolinian'' returned on May 18 as a truncated service between Charlotte and Raleigh. Full service to New York was restored on June 1, 2020.

Proposed expansion

In 2017, NCDOT and the Connecticut Department of Transportation were in talks to extend the ''Carolinian'' from New York to , with additional stops at , , and . The resultant route would be long. By increasing the length of the route to over , the ''Carolinian'' would become a long-distance network route rather than state-supported, as defined by the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008. In effect, this would allow the train to be fully subsidized by the federal government and thus free North Carolina of its state funding obligations.

Long-term plans call for restoring a portion of the former Seaboard main line between Raleigh and Richmond, known as the "S-Line," as part of construction of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor between Charlotte and Washington. The S-Line had been abandoned in 1985, forcing Amtrak to route its trains linking Raleigh and the Northeast through Selma along the NCRR. It is estimated that restoring the S-Line will cut an hour off the ''Carolinian's'' running time by enabling a more direct route over the Virginia border.

Operation

Equipment

Most ''Carolinian'' trains consist of six cars hauled by a locomotive.

The passenger cars are the Amfleet I series passenger cars built by the Budd Company in the mid-to-late 1970s. Most trains include a Business Class car, a Café car (food service/lounge), and four Coach Class cars. Maximum seating in such a configuration is 346, split between business class and reserved coach.

Between Charlotte and Washington, trains are pulled by a GE Genesis diesel locomotive at speeds up to . Between New York and Washington, the service operates over the Northeast Corridor which has overhead electric wires and trains are pulled by Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotives at speeds up to

In the coming years all equipment will be replaced with Amtrak Airo trainsets, the railroad's branding of its combination of Siemens Venture passenger cars and a Siemens Charger diesel-electric locomotive. The trainsets for the ''Carolinian'' will have six passenger cars, which will include a food service area and a mix of 2x2 Coach Class and 2x1 Business Class seating. The consist will be to Amtrak's B-1 Configuration, which will also be used on ''The Downeaster'', '' Keystone Service'', ''The Palmetto'', ''The Pennsylvanian'' and ''The Vermonter''. The car closest to the locomotive will be a specialized "Auxiliary Power Vehicle" which will include a pantograph to collect power from overhead lines and will feed it to four traction motors in the car, and via a DC link cable, to the four traction motors in the locomotive. The car at the opposite end of the train will be a control car/coach car that can operate the train in pusher mode, preventing the need to switch engines or use a wye/ loop to reverse the direction of the train. The arrangement will offer a near seamless transition between power sources at Washington, a process that currently requires a time-consuming locomotive change.

Classes of service

All classes of service include complimentary WiFi, an electric outlet (120 V, 60 Hz AC) at each seat, reading lamps, fold-out tray tables. Reservations are required on all trains, tickets may be purchased online, from an agent at some stations, a ticketing machine at most stations, or, at a higher cost, from the conductor on the train.
*Coach Class: 2x2 seating. Passengers self-select seats on a first-come, first-served basis.
*Business Class: 2x2 seating with more legroom than coach. Passengers receive complimentary soft drinks. Seats assigned in advance.

Route

The ''Carolinian'' operates over Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, and North Carolina Railroad trackage. Since 1871, Norfolk Southern and its predecessors have leased the NCRR from the state.
*Amtrak Northeast Corridor, New York to Washington
*CSX RF&P Subdivision, Richmond Terminal Subdivision, North End Subdivision, and South End Subdivision, Washington to Selma
*NS Raleigh District, Selma to Greensboro (leased from NCRR)
*NS Danville District, Greensboro to Linwood (leased from NCRR)
*NS Charlotte District, Linwood to Charlotte (leased from NCRR)

Two Amtrak Thruway bus routes connect large swaths of eastern North Carolina to the Wilson station. One route serves Greenville, New Bern, Havelock, and Morehead City; another serves Goldsboro, Kinston, Jacksonville, and Wilmington. A third Thruway route connects Winston-Salem to the High Point station.

Funding

The North Carolina Department of Transportation provides funding to operate the ''Carolinian'' from Charlotte to the Virginia border. NCDOT offers free transit passes which allow detraining ''Carolinian'' passengers in North Carolina to get one free bus ride and one transfer on the same day of travel. Passes are honored by 13 participating transit systems along its route.

Ridership and revenue

Ridership in 2013 was over 317,550 passengers. It was then followed by a period of steadily decreasing passengers through the COVID-19 pandemic, where it saw 150,365 riders in 2020. In fiscal year 2022 the ''Carolinian'' saw a 38.7% increase from 2021, surpassing 2018 and 2019 levels with 270,050 passengers. The '' Carolinian's'' ridership increased by 16.9% in fiscal year 2023, to 315,781, nearly matching its previous ridership record of 317,550 in 2013. In fiscal year 2024 the ''Carolinian'' saw record ridership with 347,360 passengers boarding. Additionally in FY 2024, the ''Carolinian'' had operating revenue of $21.7 million

Station stops

The train has two seasonal stops in October. A station in Lexington is used during the Lexington Barbecue Festival, while an additional station in Raleigh is used for the North Carolina State Fair.

Before 2019, the northbound ''Carolinian'' followed the practice of most medium- and long-distance trains operating in the Northeast and did not allow passengers to travel only between stations on the Northeast Corridor. It only stopped to discharge passengers from Washington northward in order to keep seats available for passengers making longer trips. Starting in 2019, the northbound ''Carolinian'' began allowing local travel on the Northeast Corridor on Sundays, Thursdays and Fridays. The southbound ''Carolinian'' allows local travel in the Northeast at all times from Trenton southward.

References

Notes

External links

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NCDOT Rail Division

{{Amtrak routes

Amtrak routes
Passenger rail transportation in Delaware
Passenger rail transportation in Maryland
Passenger rail transportation in New Jersey
Passenger rail transportation in New York (state)
Passenger rail transportation in North Carolina
Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania
Passenger rail transportation in Virginia
Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C.
Railway services introduced in 1990