I have ridden the train twice in the past twelve months and I plan to take the train again this year.
My train experience in the northeast corridor is current and not historical. The nation needs high-speed rail corridors.
Many of Vance County’s leaders are viewing high speed rail through a nostalgic lens. I contend our objective should be to make Henderson a center for track maintenance and service for the high speed rail corridor linking Richmond-Petersburg to Raleigh-Cary-Durham.
Today the train has numerous short stops. The shorter the stop the less physical facilities and services are required. Durham for example has a ticket agent, baggage handler, public restrooms, and vending machines. The Richmond Staple Mills station includes a paid parking lot and an on-site concession stand. The cause of these differences is simply the number of routes each station services. Durham services two routes and Staple Mills services three. Henderson would service one route. A Kiosk style ticket machine is all that is required.
Making Henderson one of the centers for servicing the track in the high-speed corridor would bring real JOBs to our area. Someone has to inspect and repair the track. Someone has to maintain signals and switches. Someone has to monitor traffic on the track. Those some ones could be centered right here in little ole Hun’neson.
We do have parts of an infrastructure to build such a center. Underutilized track area, available land boarding the track for expansion, expandable electrical and telecommunication grids. Plus a community college that could develop programs to teach the stills required.
Yes, track maintenance and service jobs are unglamorous. Although more glamorous than Section 8 housing. Yes, a high speed rail corridor will create a physical divide through the county. The interstate highway created an impediment to free movement and the area adapted.
I see a future for this area as a part of the nation’s high-speed rail corridor; especially one that is a center for track maintenance and service in the corridor connecting Richmond-Petersburg with Raleigh-Cary-Durham and on south.
Michael Bobbitt
Henderson