The state DOT is swearing in new members of a high speed rail commission in North Carolina.
Four members of the General Assembly and a Raleigh attorney will be named Monday to the Virginia-North Carolina High Speed Rail Compact. Crews are working to upgrade tracks between Charlotte and Raleigh now for the corridor that's planned to run from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. Supporters of the project have said high speed rail is key infrastructure. Opponents have called it too costly.
Rail division director Paul Worley says it's up to the commission to gauge how interested investors are in future costs.
"The way we're growing in the southeast United States, we really need to take advantage of all the capacity that we have, all the seats, whether those seats be in your car, on the train, on a plane, or on a bus," Worley says.
"We're going to need all the capacity to move people around this region so we can continue to have the good economic growth and job growth that we've had."
Members of the commission are appointed by leaders in the General Assembly and Governor Pat McCrory. They are Republican Reps. William Brawley and Nelson Dollar, Republican Sens. Bill Rabon and Kathy Harrington, and Raleigh attorney Randolph Lickey.