Raleigh Union Station project receives $21 million TIGER Grant

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $21 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant for the Raleigh Union Station project.

Dubbed “The Gateway to the South,” the station will be a major stop on the Southeast high-speed rail corridor that will span from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, Ga. It will also provide expanded service to intercity and commuter rail passengers, improve freight operations and add local and intercity bus service. The project will enhance safety by improving track signals and providing better access to station platforms.

The city of Raleigh estimates the project would stimulate the development of more than 2.5 million square feet of office space and 6,000 residential units downtown.

The grant comes on the heels of other efforts to improve passenger rail service in the Southeast. More than half a billion has been invested through the FRA’s High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program in North Carolina and construction is underway to reduce trip times and add more frequent service between Raleigh and Charlotte.

Through additional federal grants the states of North Carolina and Virginia are completing the prerequisite environmental and planning work to drastically reduce train travel times between the Raleigh and Washington, D.C., to allow travelers to make a roundtrip between the two cities within a single day for meetings and other events, strengthening the economic ties between the two regions and creating new opportunities for job growth.

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