(Image credit: NCDOT)
The momentum for passenger rail in North Carolina keeps growing.
The N.C. Department of Transportation has been awarded nearly $300 million in federal funding to improve the Piedmont Corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte—another major win for North Carolina in an increasingly competitive national landscape for passenger rail investment.
The funding will support infrastructure improvements designed to make current and future passenger rail service safer, more reliable and better equipped for growth. Planned improvements include eliminating several at-grade crossings, constructing new highway bridges, adding nearly six miles of second track, and increasing capacity along the corridor.
For All Aboard NC, this announcement is exciting not only because of what it means for Raleigh-to-Charlotte service today, but because of what it signals for the future.
North Carolina continues to demonstrate that it can successfully compete for—and put to work—major federal rail investments. As our state works toward expanding passenger rail to communities including Asheville and Wilmington, continued success like this helps build momentum for the larger statewide network we know is possible.
And North Carolinians are already showing that they want more train service. NC By Train carried nearly 740,000 passengers in 2025, its fourth consecutive year of record ridership and a 59% increase from 2019.
We’re winning investment. Ridership is growing. And North Carolina has an opportunity to keep building on that success.
Let’s keep it moving.