New Railroad Maintenance Facility in Charlotte

Fast Facts

Will you be affected by the Department of Transportation’s plans to build a new rail maintenance facility in Charlotte? Learn more about the project here and how you can protect your rights!
NCDOT Project # P-2918F
Type: New Railroad Maintenance Facility
Affected Counties: Mecklenburg
Estimated Cost: $44 Million ($12.6 Million for Phase 1)

Description

Charlotte Rail and Locomotive Maintenance Facility is an initiative by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to create a new train maintenance facility south of Uptown Charlotte.

The new maintenance yard will be located across from Charlotte Pipe and Foundry on West Summit Avenue, near the Wilmore neighborhood and close to interstates 77 and 277.

The facility will be adjacent to the existing Norfolk Southern mainline and will be used for servicing and maintaining rail cars. It will include:

  • An enclosure for major maintenance operations
  • A fuel pad and onsite fuel tank
  • Additional space for spare parts and equipment storage
  • An enclosed train wash facility
  • A train crew base for as many as 20 crew members

Currently trains lay over and are cleaned on a single service track at the Norfolk Southern Charlotte Switching Yard, west of the Amtrak Station passenger platform. However, according to the NCDOT, the services that can be performed at the Switching Yard are limited, due to lack of space and the area cannot be expanded.

Further, the NCDOT expects rail traffic to increase as they work to implement another Amtrak passenger train along the Piedmont corridor and once Norfolk Southern’s new multi-modal transportation center on West Trade Street is completed.

This project will also aid in NC’s overarching goal to build the “Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor,” for which NC received $545 million in federal grants under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act High Speed Rail program.

The project will be built in phases.

Schedule

The NCDOT has not released an official schedule, but projects that are part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act High-Speed Rail (as this one is) are to be implemented and completed by September 2017.

Property Takings

Right-way-acquisition is scheduled to being in the winter of 2013.

According to the NCDOT’s application for permission to build in the historic Wilmore neighborhood, there has been some “vocal neighborhood opposition to the overall design of the Rail Maintenance Facility, primarily in reaction to the location and nature of the Stormwater Retention Pond and Sand Filter relative to some of the single-family residences along Merriman Avenue.”

If your property will be affected, contact one of our attorneys for a free case evaluation.

Get a free case
evaluation today.

There are only a handful of attorneys in NC who practice eminent domain exclusively, and even fewer with NCDOT experience. We have several. That’s why its worth getting in touch with us for a free case evaluation.

Here’s how it works:

1) Tell us about your situation.

2) We research your property as needed, using DOT maps, our own technology, and experience to see the exact effects.

3) We let you know what we think a fair offer would be. This evaluation is free, and there’s no
pressure or obligation to hire us after.

But please don’t wait to act. Waiting can hurt your case, and the cost is the same: free.

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