$461 million project will speed train trip from Charlotte to Raleigh by 13 minutes

Is it shovel-ready?

"The project is expected to create nearly 5,000 jobs."...so will those jobs be permanent after the project is completed?

I live in Raleigh and have seen many arguments about this high speed rail.

My argument is that neither Raleigh nor Charlotte have centralized populations... Meaning you can't take a cab/tram/subway to this train, you have to drive. What's the use in driving to a train just that only increases your arrival by 13 minutes??

And those 5,000 jobs will not last once this thing opens. At best they'll keep 100.

The infrastucture build out would be worth doing even if NO passenger trains at all ran on that stretch or rail.

The rail system in the US NEEDS infrastructure build out in places in order to increase capacity and increase the safety of vehicles by decreasing grade crossings.

My guess is that the "double trackage" issue is a huge capacity bottleneck in that area, as it was near here where NS spend nearly half a billion dollars to create a double track (right next to existing track) for merely 80 miles (across level rural terrain).

If track "capacity" problems are the issue in that area then the big improvement to passenger rail service is NOT the time savings per trip, but the ability to run more passenger trips on what is basically a freight line.

fwiw each grade crossing that is replaced by an underpass or overpass costs about $10 million to build, more, a LOT more if it is an expressway. build rail trackage and overpasses is NOT a cheap process.