Hillsborough station is a planned

infill In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an urban environment, usually open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any undeveloped land that is not on the urban mar ...

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

in Hillsborough, North Carolina, located on the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR). According to town officials, the station building will have meeting a space, similar to

Kannapolis station Kannapolis station is an Amtrak train station in Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States. It is located at 201 South Main Street, within walking distance of Atrium Health Ballpark and the North Carolina Research Campus, in downtown Kannapolis. H ...

. When it is completed,

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's '' Carolinian'' and ''

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'' will serve the station. It will be the nearest Amtrak station to the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

History

The city purchased the parcel around to construct a rail station. Plans originally called for a station near the intersection of Churton Street (old NC 86) and US 70 Business to be completed by 2015 at a cost of $8.9 million. After unanticipated delays between NCRR,

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

and the

North Carolina Department of Transportation The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is responsible for building, repairing, and operating highways, bridges, and other modes of transportation, including ferries in the U.S. state of North Carolina. History The North Carolina ...

, construction was initially scheduled for 2019–2020 with $7.2 million currently budgeted and a projected cost of $8.4 million. However, after further delays, the Hillsborough town commission signed an interlocal agreement with

GoTriangle The Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority, known as GoTriangle (previously Triangle Transit and Triangle Transit Authority or TTA), provides regional bus service to the Research Triangle region of North Carolina in Wake, Durha ...

and NCDOT in April 2020, with construction slated for 2027 on a budget of $8.1 million.

Proposed station layout

The station is planned as a single story, building, with a covered patio, waiting area, attendant's office and a walkway to a

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

along the tracks. The station will also have an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

for public meetings and space for town offices. An elevated greenway is planned, which will pass over the tracks and connect to a future second side platform via elevators. The planned greenway will connect downtown and the Hillsborough Riverwalk to the station, then continue south to Cates Creek Park. The station building is planned as a sustainable structure, with a

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

, natural lighting and building-integrated photovoltaics.

References

External links

Town of Hillsborough's station planning webpage
Buildings and structures in Orange County, North Carolina Future Amtrak stations in the United States Hillsborough, North Carolina Transportation in Orange County, North Carolina Railway stations scheduled to open in 2027 {{NorthCarolina-railstation-stub