News Release

Date: October 23, 2007

NCDOT Gets $905,000 Grant for Railroad Crossing Safety Studies
in Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor

RALEIGH -- The N.C. Department of Transportation has been granted $905,000 from the Federal Railroad Administration for highway grade crossing improvement studies along the rail corridor from Raleigh to Norlina in Warren County.

The grant will help fund studies to identify practices that will continue to reduce automobile and train collisions and improve safety where highways intersect railroad tracks. It also will help fund preliminary engineering. Ninety at-grade crossings are located along the nearly 60-mile corridor between Raleigh and Norlina.

"This grant ensures that crossing safety initiatives are a continued priority as we prepare for the arrival of more frequent and higher speed trains," said NCDOT Rail Division Director Patrick B. Simmons.

The Raleigh to Norlina section of the railroad is part of the Southeast High Speed Rail corridor, federally designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation for service development across five southeastern states: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Southeast High Speed Rail service will provide business and leisure travelers with an alternate transportation option for trips between 100 to 500 miles. The planned service would have top speeds of 110 miles per hour with average speeds between 85 to 87 mph. The project calls for the system to be developed incrementally, upgrading existing rail rights of way. When complete, the Southeast High Speed Rail corridor will become the southern extension of the northeast corridor's high speed rail service between Washington, D.C. and Boston. For more information, visit www.sehsr.org.

Contacts:
Joan Bagherpour, 919-733-7245, ext. 261