Kannapolis, North Carolina is located 27 miles northeast of Charlotte, NC. Connecting them is Amtrak’s Carolinian and Piedmont intercity passenger rail on the Norfolk Southern Charlotte District. Currently, the Kannapolis station has one passenger boarding platform, but NCDOT is looking to add a second platform. Having the ability to use track one or track two would help with passenger and freight traffic on the line that sees 20 to 30 trains within a 24 hour period. This would also help with future expansion of passenger service at the station.
On Thursday, October 24 the NCDOT Rail Division hosted a public meeting at the station about the Kannapolis Train Station Improvement Project. NCDOT Project Manager Craig Newton kicked off the meeting giving an overview of the project. David Wagner of Wagner Murray architects went over the design of the platform and pedestrian overpass. Along with the new structure, a new parking lot will be added adjacent to the station.
The stairways on each side of the pedestrian overpass will be enclosed in glass. The overpass will have two purposes giving rail passengers access to both platforms and a safe location for residents to cross the railroad tracks. The design even allows for a future third track to be added under the overpass if needed.
The estimated cost of the project will be $6,550,000 and will be fully funded by NCDOT. Once the project is complete the overpass and platforms will be given to the city as they already own the station. Construction is set to begin June 2020 and will take about 14 to 16 months to complete.
Over the years, I’ve been to many of these public meetings. This is one of the first meetings that didn’t have any negative comments about the project. The overpass is very well designed to match the station and will improve overall passenger service to the community.
I’m looking forward to seeing the construction start next year. There is a lot going on in downtown Kannapolis with the construction of a new baseball park, residential, and business development.
