Amtrak
The Town of Hillsborough, N.C., is working with North Carolina Railroad, Amtrak, and the state to build a new train station between Gold Hill Way and Orange Grove Road, on a roughly 20-parcel acre, according to a report by The Daily Tar Heel.
According to the report, the station itself will cover five acres, but the town is planning to dedicate five more to affordable housing, three acres to commercial spaces, and the rest to other infrastructure needs such as landscape and parking.
Stephanie Trueblood, the Public Space and Sustainability Manager for the Town of Hillsborough said the train station project “aims to reestablish passenger rail service in Hillsborough, which stopped in 1964,” according to the report. She said that the community a desire for the return of passenger rail service, dating back to a 2007 petition with 366 signatures from town residents supporting the project.
“The community, remembering when we had passenger service, and wanting that available option again, as well as Amtrak realizing that a station would be financially feasible here, is what really got the ball rolling,” Trueblood said.
According to The Daily Tar Heel report, Trueblood said the rail line is already utilized by Amtrak and freight lines and that Hillsborough meets with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) regularly to “ensure the station meets Amtrak standards.”
The Hillsborough station, according to the report, will mark the 17th station in North Carolina that Amtrak lines travel through, Craig Newton, NCDOT Facilities Engineer Consultant, said.
According to the report, Trueblood said the current plans for the station include a 7,700-square-foot station, rail platform, greenway connection to downtown Hillsborough, parking, a bus stop, a constructed wetland, a public road extension and outdoor seating. A meeting space for town commissioners and other town offices will be located within the station.
According to The Daily Tar Heel report, the project is currently in the planning, design, and construction document-level engineering phase. Completion of the project is set for 2027 but “permitting and coordination complexities may extend this date,” Trueblood said.
The NCDOT, Town of Hillsborough, and GoTriangle reached a funding agreement in March of 2020, according to the report.
Trueblood said the estimated total cost of the project is $8 million, with $7 million allocated for the station and $1 million for the platform. Funding sources include $686,000 from GoTriangle, $34,000 from the Town of Hillsborough, and $6,280,000 from NCDOT via federal grant funding, according to the report.
MBTA
The MBTA on Feb. 25 announced that its official mobile app, MBTA Go, is now available to Android users following the app release to Apple iPhone users in November 2024. Developed completely in-house and as the most authoritative source for MBTA information, MBTA Go “aims to improve communication between the MBTA and its riders by providing real-time information for all fixed-route services in a more accessible way,” according to the agency.
MBTA Go assists riders as they navigate their trips with features that include:
- Get real-time updates, including estimated train/bus arrival times, live tracking as vehicles approach a stop, and estimated time to rider’s destination.
- View a user-friendly MBTA map that allows riders to click to see available services and transfers at each stop and station.
- Find out if there is a closure on their route with clear alerts and map indicators.
- Access in eight languages: English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, and French.
Since its release in November 2024, MBTA Go has been downloaded by more than 57,000 users, the agency noted. The MBTA’s Technology Innovation Department expects to share app version updates approximately every four to six weeks with new features. Updates to come include details about approaching vehicles, like-live crowding updates, and a Trip Planner that provides Waze- or Google Map-like route recommendations. Nearly half of the feedback received from users so far have been requests for more features, according to MBTA.
More than 4,000 MBTA riders piloted MBTA Go during the beta test period that began in July 2024. User feedback and human-centered design continue to directly influence the development team’s work as they work to improve the tool, the agency said.
NYMTA
The MTA on Feb. 25 announced that it has completed a brand-new staircase and passageway to the Flushing Line platform and widened staircases at Grand Central Terminal. This is part of the larger Grand Central-42nd Street Circulations Improvement Project, which, the agency says, “will improve passenger flow and minimize congestion for 480,000 daily customers on the 7 line.”
Crews built a new staircase to the Flushing Line platform and widened existing staircases 25% to connect the Lexington Passageway to the existing passageway to improve customer flow. The project also included work to keep the existing infrastructure in a state of good repair, including repairing visible concrete, steel, and paint defects on the Flushing Line cavern roof arch and walls and upgrades to fire alarms and other utilities at the Flushing, Lexington and Shuttle. The project created more than 250 jobs and took advantage of weekend outages along the 7 line to minimize impact to customers.
The project, MTA says, was made possible by the East Midtown Rezoning that was adopted by the City Council a few years ago, which allowed property rent revenues to fund transit improvements.
Last year, crews descended a 55-foot shaft to begin removing 1,000 tons of dirt and performed controlled blasts through the bedrock to create the new passageway beneath 42 Street—all while service still operated safely elsewhere in the terminal. Video of the project’s work can be seen here.
As part of the station improvements, which totaled $74.2 million, artwork along the length of the platform was cleaned, re-lit and received a retrofit to accommodate the new stairs. Artist Christopher Sproat’s functional sculpture titled “V-Beam” was commissioned by MTA Arts & Design and installed in 2000. The artwork is suspended from the ceiling with a cantilevered design.
“V-Beam” is made up of large linear stainless-steel assemblages that contain standard station lighting, signage, air circulation, and safety equipment. Sproat explains, “Rather than make an artistic or decorative statement and add it to the station so that the viewer knows ‘this is art,’ I chose to make the entire space exuberant and unique.” “V-Beam” includes a stand-alone “chandelier” sculpture on the east platform mezzanine.
The entire Grand Central-42nd Street Circulations Improvement Project, which will be completed later this year, includes replacement of eight escalators, a new fare control area, new wayfinding, lighting, signage, and architectural improvements on the mezzanine, along with additional work to keep existing infrastructure in a state of good repair. Ongoing improvements at the 42nd Street Connection include making the 42nd Street-Bryant Park BDFM station fully accessible to all in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), retail upgrades, state of good repair work, and upgrades to fire alarms and other utilities.
