CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Public transit ridership continues to soar. Amtrak released new data which showed more Americans traveled by train in 2023. Hitting closer to home, CATS told WCNC Charlotte it also saw more riders.
On Sat. Dec. 2, Shonda Moffett waited for her train inside the Charlotte Amtrak station.
"Today I’m heading to Sarasota, Florida," Moffett said. "I don’t prefer anything but Amtrak.”
She has traveled for work for the last 14 years. The brown benches inside the station have become like a home base for her. Moffett is one of the many travelers who take to the tracks, and recently there's been more just like her.
Amtrak record ridership in North Carolina
Amtrak released its fiscal year 2023 report and it showed in Charlotte specifically, over 260,000 people boarded the train. That is a 30% increase from the year before. The state also saw more than 1.2 million riders hit the railways. Kyle Anderson with Amtrak said that is a new record, breaking the previous one set in 2019 before the pandemic.
“Americans were rediscovering rail in 2019, record levels, and then the pandemic hit," he said, "and it’s like Americans are rediscovering rail again."
With the higher volume, Amtrak had to expand. This year, the company added two more trains between Raleigh to Charlotte. The station now has five daily round trips on its Piedmont service. But Anderson said that's not the end of it.
NC eyes sixth Piedmont train
Following the success of the expanded in-state Amtrak service between Charlotte and Raleigh this year, the North Carolina Department of Transportation said Friday they are looking to add yet another round-trip train.
“We have some analysis left to do and we'd like to see that service start in the next few years — as soon as possible," Jason Orthner, the NCDOT Rail Division director, said Friday during a public meeting of the Amtrak board of directors.
North Carolina funds the Piedmont, which runs in-state passenger service, as well as the Carolinian, which offers service from North Carolina to some of Amtrak's biggest destinations including Washington and New York.
S Line project
“One piece we are excited about: the state applied for a new grant for the S Line project," Anderson said. "This would create a new passenger rail between Raleigh and Virginia. That would make your trip to D.C. and then New York more reliable and quicker.”
Sen. Thom Tillis said a $1 billion grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation would help improve both system and service performance.
EXPANDED COVERAGE: Richmond and Raleigh to be connected by Amtrak train rail in 2026
“This $1 billion grant for North Carolina to make progress on the Raleigh to Richmond Rail Line is a big win for economic development in the region,” Tillis said in a statement. “I’m proud this investment was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that I helped negotiate, write, and pass into law.”
CATS ridership
As rail transit grew and continues to grow between major cities and states, CATS too reported high ridership. In the report by CATS, all stations showed a big uptick in riders.
Contact Austin Walker at awalker@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.