CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The CityLynx Gold Line will soon operate on a temporary 30-minute frequency instead of their usual 20-minute schedule, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) announced Wednesday.
The switch will come on Saturday, Aug. 19th for an undisclosed period of time as CATS continues to face ongoing challenges, including a shortage of staff. The new schedule will help ensure better reliability and consistency for the service, the agency said. CATS also cited summer events as a reason for the change.
Efforts by CATS to recruit more staff continue as its service struggles persist. Incentives such as sign-on bonuses, increased wages, and recruitment campaigns have proven to be successful, the agency's Interim CEO Brent Cagle said. CATS anticipates improvements to rail service in the coming months as a new group of operators completes training. After they do so, the agency expects to return CityLYNX Gold Line to a 20-minute frequency.
CATS is working to repair public trust broken both by service troubles and by the revelation of a May 2022 derailment of the CityLYNX Blue Line. CATS officials say the investigation into that incident has been completed, and that clogged track greaser and faulty tracks were to blame.
Another derailment was recently revealed to have occurred on July 28th, 2023, but to a train that was not in service and was in a maintenance yard.