Public invited to learn more about proposed rail from Meck to Iredell counties

CHARLOTTE — Local residents got a chance to learn about a proposed commuter rail.

Dubbed the Red Line, the Norfolk Southern rail would run from Charlotte to Mount Mourne. It would connect Uptown to Huntersville, Mooresville, Davidson,, and Cornelius.

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The Red Line would use an abandoned railroad track that runs through Camp North End. Developers and business owners say the 25-mile line would offer direct access to the shops, offices and restaurants at Camp North End, and would boost jobs also.

On Wednesday night, the Charlotte Area Transit (CATS) System held a meeting for the public to learn more about the project. Attendees learned where the project stands, the timeline, and other key information.

While many are excited by the development, north Mecklenburg communities along the line could face a tax hike.

For the past two decades, CATS has pushed to build the 25-mile-long commuter rail one day.

“Back in 1998, that’s when the half-cent sales tax was passed and the north corridor was one of the original 5 corridors,” Brian Nadolny, from CATS, said.

The original design was completed back in 2008 using Norfolk Southern’s O-Line.

But in 2013, the plans were derailed after Norfolk Southern changed its passenger rail police.

“Basically saying they did not want to share their tracks with passenger rail anymore,” Nadolny said.

Nine years later, Norfolk Southern cooled and began to have good-faith discussions with the city about possibly using the O-line.

During Wednesday’s meeting, CATS officials explained the ‘why now?’ and how they are still at the beginning of a years-long process.

The first design phase the organization will be launching is expected to be finished next March.

That phase will show how the trains will get into Uptown Charlotte, where the ten proposed stations will be located, and a rough estimate about how much the project may cost.

Garry Bowman lives in a home right by the O-Line and told Channel 9 he hasn’t seen much activity.

“Not too often, maybe a couple times a week, it’s just a short train, it doesn’t take long for them to go by, that’s for sure,” he said.

Even though CATS officials say the proposal will bring traffic relief and economic development, residents like Bowman are hesitant to pay the tax hike.

“Oh forget it, I’m against it if they want to put a sales tax.”

He believes there is a simpler solution that makes much more sense than the O-Line.

“I don’t know why they’re doing all this construction and they just don’t widen the streets,” Bowman said.

For more information about the O-Line project, click here.

(WATCH PREVIOUS: City hopes for fresh start for Red Line; Norfolk Southern says nothing has changed)

City hopes for fresh start for Red Line; Norfolk Southern says nothing has changed

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