It is a proposed 110 mph passenger rail corridor stretching from Macon and Atlanta, GA, Greenville and Spartanburg, SC, through Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, NC to Richmond, VA and Washington, DC, as well as from Jacksonville, FL, Savannah, GA, Columbia, SC to Raleigh, NC and points north. (SEHSR trains will use the high speed Amtrak Northeast Corridor trackage beyond Washington, DC to continue on to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and other Northeast points.)

The highways of the region and the airports along the Eastern seaboard simply cannot handle the present traffic, let alone accommodate future travel needs. An affordable, modern, timely alternative to driving crowded interstates or flying short distances (usually at stunningly high fares) is required.

To reconstruct the existing rail lines between Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, and Washington, DC for SEHSR travel times is estimated to cost $1.2 billion, or approximately $2.5 million per mile, about one-third the cost to build a mile of interstate highway. Construction costs for SEHSR segments in South Carolina and Georgia have not yet been determined.

Proposed SEHSR trip times include Charlotte to Washington, DC in five hours 15 minutes; Raleigh to Richmond in one hour 45 minutes; Richmond to Washington in 90 minutes; Charlotte to Atlanta in three hours; Atlanta to Macon in 90 minutes; and Columbia to Richmond in four hours, ten minutes.

Initial planning, to calculate demand for the service, priced one-way tickets at approximately twenty cents a mile. This compares to one dollar and more a mile for one way airline tickets today in many SEHSR markets.

Implementing the SEHSR will be a lengthy process. Detailed cost estimates, environmental clearances, construction permits, equipment selection and manufacture, ordering of materials, and actual reconstruction of the rail lines must take place before the SEHSR is ready for passengers. While heavily dependent on the availability of state and federal funds, the process should take approximately seven to ten years to complete.

Hardly. The US Department of Transportation, in reviewing the high speed rail plans for 23 states, came to the conclusion that the SEHSR will produce more revenue than any other proposed corridor, that it will generate $2.54 in public benefits for each dollar spent to build and operate the corridor, and that the SEHSR is the only proposed corridor projected to cover its total costs from the fare box.

The rail line is being engineered for a maximum speed of 110 mph. There will, however, be many areas where such speeds will not be possible, especially in congested areas, near station stops, etc. Built up areas will receive security fencing and landscaping to maximize public safety and minimize the rail line's intrusion to the community.

Between Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, and Washington, DC, SEHSR trains will make essentially the same stops as today's Piedmont and Carolinian although not all trains will make all stops. Stops for SEHSR trains in South Carolina and Georgia have not yet been determined. However, no community currently with Amtrak service will lose such service.

The construction and operation of the SEHSR will have a tremendous impact on the economies of the towns it passes through. In North Carolina alone, it has been estimated the SEHSR will bring $700 million in new state and local tax revenues, $10.5 billion in employee wages over 20 years, over 31,400 new one-year construction jobs, more than 800 permanent new railroad operating positions, and nearly 19,000 permanent full-time jobs from businesses which choose to locate or expand in North Carolina because of the SEHSR. It can be reasonably assumed that similarly positive benefits will accrue to Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina from SEHSR's implementation.