After severe weather and repeated flight delays left them stranded in New York for four days last year, Susan Kluttz and her husband finally bit the bullet. They abandoned their plane tickets and booked seats on Amtrak’s Carolinian train, which Kluttz said took them from Penn Station in New York City to the train depot in Salisbury, N.C., six blocks from their house.
Kluttz, a longtime rail advocate and former Salisbury mayor who’s currently mayor pro tem, said she’s grateful she was able to take the train — and she wants Asheville to have the same access to rail travel that her city has.
“It connects you with the world,” Kluttz told BPR in an interview. “And Asheville is just too cut off right now. And we need to get that back. Asheville and Western North Carolina need to have the advantages that we’ve experienced in Salisbury, of being right on that line.”
Kluttz spoke earlier this month at a rail conference in Morganton, where about 140 people strategized about the way forward for a potential Asheville-to-Salisbury passenger rail line. The event was organized by a nonprofit called the Western North Carolina Rail Committee.
The conference marked the latest step rail advocates are making toward the return of the train a reality. The last time a passenger train made the trip from Asheville to Salisbury was in 1975.
Supporters say the creation of a train line would improve traffic along Interstate 40, connect Western North Carolina with the rest of the state and provide a big boost to the region’s economic development — a point that’s especially important amid the recovery from Hurricane Helene.
A study published earlier this year by researchers at North Carolina State University estimates that the rail line would generate an economic output of $1 billion during construction and $60 million for every year of operation. It would also create hundreds of jobs and bring in nearly $2 million in annual state and local tax revenue.
After more than three decades of work, the WNC Rail Committee is more hopeful now than it’s been at any other point in its existence, according to Ray Rapp, a former state legislator and mayor of Mars Hill who also co-chairs the organization.
“It is fast becoming a reality – the potential for this corridor project. And so, we need to be ready,” Rapp told BPR on the sidelines of the Morganton conference.
Local governments seek outside funding to pay for it
If completed, the project would consist of a 139-mile route between Asheville and Salisbury, where passengers could then connect to other routes across the country. The train would make three round trips daily, with travel times averaging three-and-a-half hours, according to a 2023 feasibility study conducted for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
The project is already in the federal government’s pipeline. The big question now is how to fund it, Rapp said.
“Many small towns are going to have to rely on tourism development authorities [and] economic development organizations similar to the ones we heard today, to help them get grants,” he said. “And truly, Asheville is critical in this whole process, because the [NCDOT] Rail Division, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern have to see that energy and enthusiasm and willing[ness] to invest in this before they’re willing to commit.”
The overall price tag is $665 million. The federal government is expected to pick up the tab for 80% of the total. But that’s only if the state and local governments are able to provide the remaining 20% — which comes out to $133 million.
That’s a lot of money for a state that’s still struggling to make ends meet after Helene. Many municipalities in the west are facing budget shortfalls as the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been slow to reimburse them for recovery costs.
Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, who spoke on a panel with Kluttz at the conference, said she’s optimistic about the rail line becoming a reality.
“It’s really exciting,” Manheimer told BPR in an interview. “I mean, I feel like we’re really hitting a milestone here with a lot of momentum around this project.”
But with current estimates showing Asheville facing a budget gap of about $14 million for the next fiscal year, Manheimer said the city is looking for outside help with funding the rail line.
“We will be looking for private partners, whether it’s the Tourism Development Authority or other funding sources to help make sure we have our part in the game,” she said.
In a statement, the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority said it’s up to local governments and nonprofits to propose projects for funding, and “it’s too soon to know” what proposals will be made in the upcoming grant cycle.
Members of the WNC Rail Committee have met with TDA leaders and city staff in the past to discuss the grant application process, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Where would Asheville’s depot be located?
Another decision that local leaders will need to make is where to build Asheville’s train depot. The city owns property near Biltmore Village that was previously eyed for a depot — but that was before Helene caused the nearby Swannanoa River to overrun its banks, severely flooding the area.
The River Arts District is another possibility mentioned. But that would likely cost an additional $5 million, according to the 2023 feasibility study.
As local governments work to figure out the details and find sources of funding, leaders in the General Assembly are standing by.
State House Speaker Destin Hall was the keynote speaker at the rail conference in Morganton. And while he emphasized the importance of the train, he stopped short of giving any specifics on the General Assembly’s ability to help fund the project, saying only, “That’s something we’re looking at.”
In the meantime, supporters of the rail project said the input of community members is more important than ever.
“What we need right now is we need champions,” Paul Ballard, a member of the WNC Rail Committee who previously served as interim director of the City of Asheville’s Transportation Department, said in an interview. “People who are willing to come up, speak up, show up and talk about how important the train is to them, and how it will improve their lives and the lives of their families.”
