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What Virginia and North Carolina told Tennessee about funding, freight deals and building capacity
Summary
Panelists from Virginia and North Carolina described dedicated state funds, negotiated track purchases with freight railroads and phased capacity projects that enabled increased frequencies; Amtrak and TDOT recommended Tennessee apply for FRA Corridor ID seed grants to begin planning.
Panelists at the TACIR meeting presented concrete elements states used to expand passenger rail and the steps Tennessee would need to replicate or adapt.
Virginia’s approach: a dedicated funding flow and negotiated capacity projects. Mike McLaughlin of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority said the Commonwealth reorganized funding to create a Commonwealth Rail Fund and committed a multi-source package that amounts to roughly $1,000,000,000 over six years to add capacity and buy corridor segments. He described negotiated agreements with CSX and Norfolk Southern and large projects such as the Long Bridge, which aim to separate passenger and freight operations and improve on-time performance.
North Car…
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