All Aboard, North Carolina

Speaker: Beau Mills, chair, All Aboard NC

North Carolina is the third-fastest-growing state in the U.S. by population. As economic activity and travel demand increase, more train service is needed.

Enter All Aboard NC, a new organization “connecting the connectors”, assembling a strategic A-team of state and local leaders, chambers of commerce, metropolitan planning organizations, and partner advocacy groups. Its mission? To advance a regional rail network that serves all North Carolinians.

Seven proposed routes running through the Piedmont State were selected for the Corridor Identification and Development Program in 2023, with five more eligible for future rounds. In the same year, the S-Line project, which would provide a direct higher-speed passenger rail connection between Raleigh and Richmond, received a $1.09 billion federal investment—the largest single grant ever received by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Chair Beau Mills joins us to share more about All Aboard NC’s approach to train advocacy, the status of current projects, and what lies ahead in one of the most strategic battlegrounds for passenger rail expansion in the country.

Image courtesy of All Aboard NC