RALEIGH – Build it and they will come. Add train service and they will ride. As people seek travel options, the addition of mid-day train service between the state’s two largest cities has more travelers riding the train. Boosted by the addition of the Piedmont’s new mid-day train service, 10,000 more passengers traveled on the state-sponsored North Carolina’s Amtrak than last June. The new Piedmont mid-day train service between Raleigh and Charlotte began on June 5. In its first month of operation, the mid-day service helped increase ridership on the Piedmont trains nearly 200 percent over last June from 5,258 to 15, 426. The new service is expected to attract 43,000 new passengers in its first year. “The additional trains in the mid-day have given business travelers, families and college students more options to travel via rail,” said State Transportation Secretary Gene Conti. “Ridership gains show when more trains are offered, more travelers will ride.”Overall for the period October through June of 2010, Piedmont ridership is up 26 percent over the same period in year 2009 from 52,347 to 65,956.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
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