Video

Commuter rail service could get boost

More News video

• View larger
• E-mail clip
• More video

Search Video:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Plans to launch a commuter rail service from Uptown to southern Iredell County could get a significant boost under a proposal by the Charlotte Area Transit System.

CATS is requesting more than $300 million as part of the federal economic stimulus bill, according to Keith Parker, the transit system’s CEO.

If approved next week by the U.S. Senate, Parker said work could begin immediately along an existing Norfolk-Southern rail line from Gateway Village in Uptown to the town of Mt. Mourne in Iredell County.

“This project is so far along in terms of engineering and design that the only thing that remains is to get the money and start the shovels moving,” Parker told NewsChannel 36.

Transit officials estimate construction of the proposed rail service, which has been shelved for lack of funding, could employ more than 8,000 people.

Federal stimulus guidelines require projects to be “shovel-ready” and for construction to begin as soon as money is released, Parker said.

Projects that are only in the planning stages, including the proposed extension of the Lynx Blue Line to northeast Charlotte, would not qualify under the economic stimulus package, he said.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said he supports the commuter rail project, but he questions the federal guidelines for the stimulus funding.

“It’s like the only work we’re going to provide now is for people who are digging holes,” McCrory said in a meeting of the Metropolitan Transit Commission Wednesday evening.

McCrory and transit officials caution the stimulus package is still making its way through Congress and is subject to several changes before its anticipated approval.

Two other CATS projects which could also be included in the economic stimulus bill: $15 million for renovations at the Uptown Transit Center and $30 million for an overhaul at a bus garage on North Davidson Street.