Exerpt from WITN story

This story aired on WITN news- it was about the plans to reinstate rail service from Raleigh to WIlmington within 10 years- Any town or city official will tell you that Mayor King's statement (see italics) is true- Revitalizing a downtown area is not just a good cause- it is a necessity to the health of a town. Our downtown is not yet critically ill- but it is not the healthy robust center that it was years ago. Yes, we need to build new business spaces- and we need the businesses that will come with them for our town and county's economic health- but not at the expense of the old.
GOLDSBORO, N.C. -- Randy Sauls remembers a once great union station -- when he was 10 years old. "My memory was that the train seemed larger than life," he said. "I was awestruck by it." Today, the station is nearly 100 years old and hasn't been used for 30 years. But passenger trains are one step closer to rolling through this town.The state unveiled plans today to restore Goldsboro's historic train station -- the start of a process that could ultimately connect Raleigh and Wilmington by rail….. City Mayor Al King believes the project will revitalize businesses in town. "If your downtown dies, your city's going to die," he said. "And our city was dying." The station could someday become Goldsboro's front door, just as Sauls remembers from his childhood. "There's just something nostalgic about a train whistle," he said. "It's wonderful."