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The North Carolina Board of Transportation has adopted a 30-year transportation blueprint for the state that includes implications for freight and passenger-rail service.

While not project specific, the “2040 Plan” is designed to ensure safety, preserve existing transportation systems, focus on services and facilities with statewide significance, and invest in initiatives that promote economic opportunities and increased flexibility at the local level, state officials said in a prepared statement.

The plan identifies initiatives that would lead to stronger links between land use and transportation, increase opportunities to connect all forms of transportation, use technology to become more efficient, and explore new or expanded funding sources, recognizing that current funding sources will not provide enough revenue to fund transportation in the future, they said.

In terms of passenger rail, the 2040 Plan notes that 14 intercity passenger trains operated by Amtrak serve North Carolina communities. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) operates and independently funds two passenger-rail routes: the Piedmont between Raleigh and Charlotte, and the Carolinian between New York City, Richmond, Raleigh and Charlotte. NCDOT’s Rail Division is upgrading the corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte to increase train speeds, reduce travel time, increase train frequency, and improve safety and reliability.

In 2012, intercity passenger-rail service was rated “LOS D,” which shows that service frequency, communities receiving service and service-hour convenience are “significantly below expectations and below levels needed to capture the market demand for such service,” the report states.

The low level of service reflects the scarce service outside the Charlotte-to-Raleigh Piedmont Crescent, according to the report, which estimates the cost of the passenger-rail sector’s 30-year needs at $2.7 billion.

“Growth of ridership in that corridor as highway congestion grows and train frequency is improved suggests the presence of underserved (Raleigh-to-Washington, D.C., Southeast High Speed Rail) and untapped western and southeastern part of the state markets,” the report states. “The continued public investment in the state’s intercity passenger-rail services, as well as long-term investment of high-speed rail, will improve mobility across the state.”

With respect to freight rail, NCDOT has increased attention to corridors with shared freight and passenger-rail usage and statewide freight logistics, the report states. The cost of the freight-rail sector’s 30-year needs are estimated at $806 million, with the single-largest expenditure identified as improvements to short lines.

NCDOT “envisions strategy investments in private Class I and short-line railroads to enhance publicly sponsored rail operations that address targeted safety priorities,” the report states.