The Trump administration froze funding for a new passenger rail line between Raleigh and Richmond, but the North Carolina Department of Transportation says work on the project continues.
In 2024, the Biden administration approved more than $1 billion for the S-Line, which will shorten travel time between the two state capitols and create faster service for trains serving Washington, D.C. and New York. Funding came from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Governor Josh Stein and NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins urged U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to unfreeze the funding when Duffy toured Helene-damaged Interstate 40 in February.
The following month, a legislative budget analyst told state lawmakers that NCDOT assumed the freeze would end soon.
"They are working with USDOT and assuming that the federal funding freeze is short lived and can get the project back on track," Steve Swedberg said in testimony before the Joint Appropriations Committee.
In April, NCDOT officials assured local government leaders that work on the project hasn't stopped and the target opening date of 2030 remains.
“It’s just the normal process of finishing out the particular language of the agreements, giving them all the forms that they require and then following through on the process,” rail division director Jason Orthner told the News and Observer.
Meanwhile, communities outside of Raleigh are getting ready for the S-Line's arrival. Wake Forest received a $13 million federal grant for a new multimodal station one week before President Biden left office in January. Apex, which is not on the proposed route, wants to be ready for future expansion. Earlier this month, the town council received an NCDOT feasibility report on a downtown transit station that could be expanded to include a train stop.
