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The Crescent platform gets a good bit of freight, including time-sensitive intermodal and those pass through throughout the day and including when Piedmont trains are loading on the other platform. I see an intermodal around 3:30 PM or so. There is also one around 7:30 or so. With the closing of the hump at Linwood, Greensboro has a full freight yard at Pomona and it is not unusual to see a freight hanging out at the side track at CP McLeansville coming in from the east due to lack of space in Greensboro. And that is during the day. And already it is not uncommon to see both sides of the Piedmont platform to have an Amtrak train going in opposite directions. It should not happen but it does if one or the other train in not on time. If W-S is a through train to Raleigh as I assume it would be as the grant mentions Greensboro as a stop, pulling over to the Crescent platform would not be practical. Maybe there is enough room to add a connection from the Crescent platform back to the NC-line, but that is a definite maybe as there is not a lot of space before a bridge over Murrow Blvd. There is a company right there that does cross-fit training and I have always been surprised there is not a fence around their property. I have seen their customers outside running in the morning while I was waiting on the Carolinian and they could run up to the tracks and cause problems if they so choosed.In an ideal world I wish there would be space to either slide the freight tracks away from the platforms so there could be a high level platform at GRO at least on the Piedmont platform. That would go a long way in speeding up loading/unloading passengers. The Crescent platform only sees two trains a day and given the time of the entire journery the load time is not a noticible factor in the time of the trip end to end. But the Piedmont platform sees a lot of trains with more coming and using the wheelchair lift is slow when used. I happend to train host the Sunday after the NC A&T homecoming game. The platform was packed. That is not daily of course but there are times GRO is the largest stop on the Carolinian or Piedmonts trains and all of those trains are coming from another station and going on to another station after the stop. A slow load time in Charlotte is not a big deal as they let passengers head to the train 10-15 minutes or so before the train leaves the station. And at Raleigh one is at the last stop so unloading time is not critical or it is a crew change/fresh air/smoke stop so there is time for a slow unload/load if needed on the Carolinian.
The Crescent platform gets a good bit of freight, including time-sensitive intermodal and those pass through throughout the day and including when Piedmont trains are loading on the other platform. I see an intermodal around 3:30 PM or so. There is also one around 7:30 or so. With the closing of the hump at Linwood, Greensboro has a full freight yard at Pomona and it is not unusual to see a freight hanging out at the side track at CP McLeansville coming in from the east due to lack of space in Greensboro. And that is during the day. And already it is not uncommon to see both sides of the Piedmont platform to have an Amtrak train going in opposite directions. It should not happen but it does if one or the other train in not on time. If W-S is a through train to Raleigh as I assume it would be as the grant mentions Greensboro as a stop, pulling over to the Crescent platform would not be practical. Maybe there is enough room to add a connection from the Crescent platform back to the NC-line, but that is a definite maybe as there is not a lot of space before a bridge over Murrow Blvd. There is a company right there that does cross-fit training and I have always been surprised there is not a fence around their property. I have seen their customers outside running in the morning while I was waiting on the Carolinian and they could run up to the tracks and cause problems if they so choosed.
In an ideal world I wish there would be space to either slide the freight tracks away from the platforms so there could be a high level platform at GRO at least on the Piedmont platform. That would go a long way in speeding up loading/unloading passengers. The Crescent platform only sees two trains a day and given the time of the entire journery the load time is not a noticible factor in the time of the trip end to end. But the Piedmont platform sees a lot of trains with more coming and using the wheelchair lift is slow when used. I happend to train host the Sunday after the NC A&T homecoming game. The platform was packed. That is not daily of course but there are times GRO is the largest stop on the Carolinian or Piedmonts trains and all of those trains are coming from another station and going on to another station after the stop. A slow load time in Charlotte is not a big deal as they let passengers head to the train 10-15 minutes or so before the train leaves the station. And at Raleigh one is at the last stop so unloading time is not critical or it is a crew change/fresh air/smoke stop so there is time for a slow unload/load if needed on the Carolinian.
