After the pandemic, more people riding trains in North Carolina than ever before
A record number of people rode North Carolina’s passenger trains in September, as the state-subsidized rail service makes a strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Piedmont and Carolinian trains carried 48,488 people last month, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation. That’s nearly 15,000 more than the same month in 2019 and about a third more than the average pre-pandemic monthly ridership from 2014 to 2019, according to NCDOT.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced the milestone in the 32-year-old program, which goes by NC By Train.
“A strong and growing state needs efficient transportation options, and it’s clear that more people are choosing NC By Train,” Cooper said in a written statement. “We should continue to invest to connect our communities with high-quality passenger rail.”
NC By Train began in 1990 with the Carolinian, which makes a dozen stops in the state on a daily round trip between Charlotte and New York City. The Piedmont started making daily round trips between Raleigh and Charlotte in 1995, with seven stops in between.
The trains are operated by Amtrak, at a cost to the state of about $9 million a year.
NC By Train ridership got a boost in 2018 when NCDOT and Amtrak began a third daily round trip of the Piedmont. The Piedmont and Carolinian served an average of 38,651 passengers a month in 2019, peaking at 44,825 in April of that year.
Demand for rail travel in the state then dropped 95% in the spring of 2020 when schools and businesses closed and governments ordered people to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The state and Amtrak operated just one daily train a day for several months before more people began venturing out.
Demand has since recovered and has been especially strong since last spring. North Carolina’s trains have averaged about 46,150 passengers a month since April 1, according to NCDOT; the previous record broken in September was set in July, at 47,967.
The numbers don’t include four long-distance Amtrak trains that make several stops as they pass through the state between New York and the Southeast.
Other forms of mass transit have yet to fully recover from the pandemic. Local transit ridership nationwide in September was still 70% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the American Public Transportation Association. And even though airports are again crowded, passenger traffic at Raleigh-Durham International Airport through August this year was still about 82% of where it was in 2019.
NCDOT plans to further expand the rail service. It hopes to add a fourth round trip of the Piedmont in 2025, when a new train station is scheduled to open in Uptown Charlotte, and is working with Virginia to establish a high-speed rail connection between Raleigh and Richmond over an old freight corridor.
In addition to their usual stops, some Piedmont and Carolinian trains are making special stops this week at the N.C. State Fair in Raleigh through Sunday, Oct. 23, and in Lexington on Saturday, Oct. 22, for the Lexington Barbecue Festival.
The cost of a ticket on a North Carolina train varies by distance. One way from Raleigh to Charlotte is $27. Raleigh to Greensboro is $12. You can buy tickets at the stations from either ticket agents (Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Greensboro and Charlotte) or from kiosks (Burlington, High Point, Salisbury and Kannapolis). You can also buy them in advance through Amtrak or on NCDOT’s website, www.ncbytrain.org/, which has more information than Amtrak’s site, including scheduled arrival and departure times.
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 11:34 AM with the headline "After the pandemic, more people riding trains in North Carolina than ever before."
