Our story is about trains, but it starts with cars.
As in, there are a lot more of them parked at Charlotte's Amtrak station these days.
Of the more than 80 spaces off North Tryon Street, only a handful were empty at 10 a.m. Friday – a couple of hours after an eastbound train had left and a few minutes before a westbound train arrived. At the curb, a half-dozen taxis waited for passengers.
The abundance of cabs and shortage of parking spaces, as much as anything, shows how train travel has become more popular in a summer that has seen gas prices soar to historic highs. Just ask D. Joseph Tanoury, who caught the Friday morning train from Raleigh to Charlotte for a business trip, and planned to take the train back that afternoon.
An assistant attorney general at the state Justice Department, Tanoury said he had made previous train trips to Washington, D.C., but Friday was his first to Charlotte. Not only did it save gas, he said, but it was more relaxing to sit back and let someone else drive.
“Otherwise,” he said, “I'd be spending six hours behind the wheel.”
Tanoury said the experience made him wish for more train options in North Carolina.
Only one track for passenger service passes through Charlotte, and most trips within or through N.C. are limited to cities along sections of interstate highways between Gastonia and Rocky Mount. Want to take a train to Asheville, Wilmington or the Outer Banks? Too bad.
Amtrak said Thursday that it had more passengers in July than any month in its 37-year history. More than 2.75 million people rode trains last month, up 14 percent from a year earlier.
“Half of that increase is price of gas alone,” said Karina Romero, an Amtrak spokeswoman.
In North Carolina, Romero said, the Piedmont route between Charlotte and Raleigh had 6,185 passengers in July, up 43 percent from a year earlier.
But your chances of a train showing up late also jumped, as the July on-time arrival rate plummeted from almost 77 percent in July 2007 to less than 60 percent last month.
To be sure, many passengers in this year's bump are typical train riders. Some have no other option for traveling between cities, such as a student from Cary who said Friday that he couldn't get his parents' car to visit his friend in Charlotte. Others, such as Christine Ferguson, don't like to deal with Charlotte traffic.
While waiting for Ferguson to arrive Friday, daughter Karen Kelleher of Charlotte said her mother takes the train from High Point a few times a year and that the last few trips have seen full trains.
Kelleher said her sister and sister's two children also were scheduled to take the train from High Point on Saturday. Sometimes they drive, Kelleher said, but high gas prices have steered them toward the rails.
Although Amtrak raised some fares last month, none of the hikes affected routes in North Carolina, Moreno said. At current gas prices, some train trips cost roughly the same as driving. And when the train runs on time, trips aren't much longer than driving and let travelers relax instead of watch the road.
For instance, driving from Charlotte to Raleigh usually takes about two-and-a-half hours and – at 25 miles per gallon and $3.75 a gallon for regular – would cost almost $25 in gas one way. On Amtrak, the same trip takes three to three-and-a-half hours and costs $25.
As with any form of mass transit, however, delays can happen. Charlotte attorney Taylor Stukes said via e-mail that while he likes taking the train to his firm's Greensboro office, “on-time performance is certainly an issue.”
In addition, Amtrak stations usually offer fewer amenities than airports. Charlotte's roughly 6,000-square-foot station holds several curved wooden benches, a few vending machines, an ATM, a couple of restrooms and two ticket windows – above which are taped a row of criss-crossed American flags.
The biggest adjustment for new passengers, though, may be the schedule.
Unlike major cities with commuter train networks, Charlotte is served by three routes. Only one of those, the Crescent, continues west and south, and that train comes through around 2 a.m. each morning, both ways.
That could be one reason why, even with the recent increase in traffic, trains still don't see nearly as many travelers as highways and airports.
“Every time I tell someone we are taking the train,” said David Preston of Charlotte, a regular Amtrak passenger, “the usual response is ‘We have trains in Charlotte?'”
Jefferson George: 704-358-5071
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