- This article is about a train. For the Austronesian language, see Carolinian language.
The Carolinian is a 704-mile (1133 km) daily passenger train operated by Amtrak between Charlotte, North Carolina and New York City. The train does not have a sleeping car because it does not operate in the overnight hours. The train leaves its origin station (Charlotte at 7:40 or New York at 7:15) in the morning and arrives at its final destination (New York at 8:58 or Charlotte at 8:14) in the evening. On-Board services include coach, business class, and dinette cars. The Piedmont provides an additional trip over the 173-mile (278 km) section of the line between Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina. There is one train a day leaving Raleigh at 7:05am, arriving in Charlotte by 10:14am. It begins the return journey from Charlotte at 5:30pm and returns to Raleigh at 8:40pm. The "Piedmont" is actually the third train using the train name. The original "Piedmont Limited" ran New York to New Orleans over the Pennsylvania, Southern, Atlanta & Wset Point, Western of Alabama and Louisville & Nashvile via Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Montgomery and Mobile. After the "Piedmont Limited" had been discontinued, the Southern resurrected the name "Piedmont" for an all day (daylight and evening) run from Washington to Atlanta. That train was discontinued in the mid-1970's. The Carolinian and Piedmont are financed jointly by Amtrak and the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Contents |
Route details
The Carolinian and Piedmont operate over Amtrak, CSX Transportation, and Norfolk Southern Railway trackage:
- Amtrak Northeast Corridor, New York to Washington
- CSX Landover Subdivision, RF&P Subdivision, Richmond Terminal Subdivision, North End Subdivision, and South End Subdivision, Washington to Selma
- NS, Selma to Charlotte
Station stops
| Amtrak routes |
|---|
| Northeast
Acela Express - Adirondack - Auto Train - Capitol Limited - Cardinal - Carolinian - Crescent - Downeaster - Empire Service - Ethan Allen Express - Keystone Service - Lake Shore Limited - Maple Leaf - Palmetto - Pennsylvanian - Regional - Silver Meteor - Silver Star - Vermonter |
| South
Auto Train - Carolinian - City of New Orleans - Crescent - Palmetto - Piedmont - Heartland Flyer - Silver Meteor - Silver Star - Sunset Limited - Texas Eagle |
Carolinian Tardiness
The Carolinian is often several hours late during its southbound run (New York to Charlotte), due to track traffic on congested railways in Virginia and North Carolina.
Carolinian Derailment
On August 2, 2005, around 12:35PM, a late northbound Carolinian train 80 (Charlotte to New York) collided with dump truck near Hammond Road and Rush Street in Raleigh after the truck drove around the lowered gates. The train was carrying 182 passengers and 14 people were injured and two people killed which were the motorist and his passenger from Raleigh. It knocked over the seven cars and the train's engine.
