S-Line expansion to include Wake Forest station

A high-speed rail line designed to better connect Raleigh to Richmond will include a station in Wake Forest, Mayor Vivian Jones confirmed Tuesday.

The exact site of the stop has yet to be determined, but the location that city officials find most attractive in the project's early days is downtown at 120 S. White St. It's there where a small rail station once stood that served as a hub of local transportation until it was shuttered in the late 1960s.

"We are always trying to promote our downtown as a destination for people to come and visit and spend time," Jones said. "This will be an opportunity to people to come and visit Wake Forest and see all that it has to offer."

In addition to the civic and economic benefits that would stem from constructing the station on the town's main drag, the symbolism involved with building the new station precisely where the old one once sat is not lost on town officials.

Both NCDOT and the town of Wake Forest agree that constructing a new station on the original freight depot site would be a symbolic nod to the past, while ushering in a new era for downtown Wake Forest," said Brad West, Wake Forest's long range planning manager. "High visibility, compatible land uses, connections to transit, and nearby walkable businesses make the old depot site a great contender for a passenger rail station.

The project is to be funded by a $1 billion grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation to the North Carolina DOT. Although there's already a line that travels from Raleigh to Richmond, that route is far from direct; it travels southeast through Selma, then, eventually, north through Wilson and Rocky Mount before crossing into Virginia.

The new line, which the state DOT hopes to have completed by 2030, will run more directly north through Wake Forest, Henderson and Norlina.

"The passenger rail service will save over an hour of travel time between the two cities, allow for more frequent and reliable service, and make the trip to Washington D.C. competitive with driving times." the state DOT said in a project-update newsletter released in December.

State DOT officials have final say over whether the town's proposed location is selected, but, for now, town officials are content with knowing that Wake Forest will be an integral part of a major statewide project,

"It means an opportunity to get on the train right in town and go to Raleigh or Charlotte and, eventually, to Washington, D.C.," Jones said. "Our citizens will will have more options for transportation and that's something I'm excited about."