Greensboro, NC station stop discussion

[MccfamschoolMom]

I just got done commenting on a Quora question's answer where the answerer was griping about having to go all the way to DC from Tampa, FL (Amtrak bus to the Silver Meteor, Silver Meteor to DC, Crescent DC-NOLA) to catch the Crescent to NOLA. I did a quick search on the Amtrak website, and found an all-train routing which was faster and cheaper (Silver Star to Raleigh, NC, Carolinean to Greensboro, NC, then Crescent to NOLA). At least that complainer had options other than driving straight through or flying (which people in areas not served by Amtrak at all wouldn't have)!

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I just got done commenting on a Quora question's answer where the answerer was griping about having to go all the way to DC from Tampa, FL (Amtrak bus to the Silver Meteor, Silver Meteor to DC, Crescent DC-NOLA) to catch the Crescent to NOLA. I did a quick search on the Amtrak website, and found an all-train routing which was faster and cheaper (Silver Star to Raleigh, NC, Carolinean to Greensboro, NC, then Crescent to NOLA). At least that complainer had options other than driving straight through or flying (which people in areas not served by Amtrak at all wouldn't have)!

And that comes with the chance to see the classy and beautiful Greensboro station. That alone is worth taking the Carolinian or Piedmont to Greensboro to grab the Crescent southbound.

 

[Old MM]

I had not known before that Greensboro is such a busy stop, until riding the Carolinian from Charlotte-Durham. When boarding, the Amtrak agent directed all Greensboro-bound passengers to one part of the train, left, and all the other stops to the last car, to the right. The stop isn’t long enough to detrain and see the station though.

 

[jis]

I had not known before that Greensboro is such a busy stop, until riding the Carolinian from Charlotte-Durham. When boarding, the Amtrak agent directed all Greensboro-bound passengers to one part of the train, left, and all the other stops to the last car, to the right. The stop isn’t long enough to detrain and see the station though.

Greensboro is also apparently the preferred transfer stop in the Amtrak Reservation System, between the Carolinian/Piedmont Service and the Crescent.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I had not known before that Greensboro is such a busy stop, until riding the Carolinian from Charlotte-Durham. When boarding, the Amtrak agent directed all Greensboro-bound passengers to one part of the train, left, and all the other stops to the last car, to the right. The stop isn’t long enough to detrain and see the station though.

There are a few hotels downtown within walking distance of the station and a few museums downtown as well. Stay the night one time or jump off and stay a few hours and then get on the next Piedmont.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Greensboro is also apparently the preferred transfer stop in the Amtrak Reservation System, between the Carolinian/Piedmont Service and the Crescent.

And that makes sense since the Crescent and Carolinian split at the Greensboro station.
The regional bus system PART runs a bus over to Winston-Salem and uses High Point as the transfer. For the folks on the Carolinian and Piedmont boarding south (Charlotte/Kannapolis/Salisbury) then that is a bit quicker connection but for everyone north (Durham/Cary/Raleigh and on up to NYC) that is a bit longer. The PART goes from High Point to a central bus depot near-ish the airport for a transfer. The bus for Greensboro does the same. However High Point is staffed for a few minutes before and after a train while Greensboro is 24/7 staffed. And Greensboro has city transit and PART upstairs and that is staffed at least with one city transit employee to help. The PART bus is not a special Thruway but just the normal PART bus that runs from either High Point or Greensboro to the central PART depot.
It seems it would make the most sense to either use a fully functional station or route those from points south through High Point and route those from points north through Greensboro. Not only is the routing going to a smaller station with much less chance to have any customer service it is also a longer trip for those from points north. Greensboro also has a small convenience store at the station and some vending machines near the bus slips as well that can be useful if the layover is a bit longer than expected.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Yep I will plan to do that on a future excursion. To respond to the OP original query, I took the Carolinian from Wash DC to Cary and recommend for its reliability. The times were also favorable - all day riding.

As a public school teacher I appreciate your willing to spend some money in Greensboro. It is a lovely city that is often overlooked compared to the Triangle and Charlotte but lots to do and no where near the traffic due to a great road system (a bit too good so mass transit is lacking in my view.)

 

[Old MM]

Update: Tried to plan a Greensboro stop on this most recent trip, long story short nothing really worked out other than taking the 10:30 am Piedmont departure from Charlotte, last week, to Durham. It was a beautiful day, lovely ride and my gosh there was so much construction going on at the Charlotte station. All passengers were directed to board to the left, and once on the platform we were subdivided into Raleigh bound passengers and then everyone else. I am curious about all the new construction activity - there wasn't much time to take it all in, seemed like new tracks going in, maybe leading to an expanded or renovated platform? There were also many new residential buildings in the area, some under construction and some already leasing. Upon detraining at Durham, there seemed to be much heightened activity at the bus depot than I recalled from January. Megabus is there too. The days of free rides on GoTriangle will be coming to an end soon, from what I've heard, probably June? Time to start saving up those 1$ bills again..

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I am not sure what the construction is at the Charlotte station. I was in Charlotte a few months ago for ice hockey and was on the light rail from near the UNCC campus to downtown but that puts one on the back side of the current Amtrak station and NS freight yard. With a new Amtrak station being built downtown very close to the NFL stadium I doubt they are spending much on the current station to work on platforms, but I don't claim to be on top of activities in Charlotte.

My advice is to visit North Carolina again soon and really make a stop in Greensboro.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

The fact this thread is now all about the Greensboro station has put a big smile on my face.

I love that station.

 

[LongHauler]

Rode out of Greensboro in January and took these shots of various quality:

 

[dadonatrain]

This thread about places in NC fits well with my current railfanning fantasy which is to buy a USA Pass and just use it to wander around NC and VA by short day trains till it runs out!

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

The fact this thread is now all about the Greensboro station has put a big smile on my face.

I love that station.

I love that map and the skyline is a nice picture for a city of 300,000 and county of 500,000.

The top picture of the three is looking at the old freight handling part of the property and now the city and regional bus station. This area is upstairs from the Amtrak station. Those are the city and regional bus slips behind the fence. A few feet to the left would be the Greyhound bus slips (Two slips I think). The Greyhound part also serves as the station for the super-regional bus line that runs to Boone, NC (The Mountaineer Express in honor of Appalachian State University, and my alma mater.) I think the city transit area is open until about 1 or 2 AM in the morning before reopening around 5 AM for the next day and the first buses out. The Amtrak part is open 24/7 due to the Crescent arriving at 12:30 SB if on time and the NB arriving 7:30 NB.
I do wish they had a board showing the times for the old trains when the station was at its maximum usage. I think I saw a timetable from the late 1920s with about 5 roundtrips between Winston-Salem and Greensboro alone, plus the other lines out of Greensboro with even more trains. The timetable in the picture must be at the end of passenger rail by Southern before Amtrak took over the Crescent in the late 1970s.

 

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I had not known before that Greensboro is such a busy stop, until riding the Carolinian from Charlotte-Durham. When boarding, the Amtrak agent directed all Greensboro-bound passengers to one part of the train, left, and all the other stops to the last car, to the right. The stop isn’t long enough to detrain and see the station though.

In 2019 (and the numbers are higher for 2022 as that was a record for Amtrak North Carolina service and we are on pace in 2023 to break 2022 records) it seems Greensboro has 127,007 boarding and alightings. (https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...corporate/statefactsheets/NORTHCAROLINA19.pdf) and RPA should have more current numbers but I don't have my login info in front of me.

127,007 is 348 a day and 35 per train stop which, if split evenly would be 18 on or off per stop. It seems higher than that the last few times I have been on the train but that is the Carolinian and that likely is getting more ridership than the Crescent. I was on the Piedmont for the NC Train Host meeting in early March and that was a Piedmont with extra folks getting on for the NCTH meeting AND it was spring break for the three biggest colleges in Greensboro (UNCG, NC A&T, and Guilford College) and there were clearly many college students heading home via Amtrak. The platform was packed.

I would think the number is closer to 25 per train stop either on or off instead of 18 of late. If NB and SB trains meet at the platform (and that does happen often enough) there could be 100 people on the platform would seem reasonable with 50 for each train and 25 on each train boarding or 25 alighting. That would put ridership around 180,000 for the year. That is a little high for yearly ridership I think for 2022 or current year pace but 2022 was a record year and 2023 is on pace to beat 2022, at least for the entire state.