From Staff Reports

The success of a bus service from Asheville to Salisbury could be the determinant on whether passenger rail service resumes in the near future in Asheville for the first time since 1975.

Amtrak is studying establishing a dedicated bus service as soon as 2016 to carry passengers between Asheville and Salisbury, where they could connect with trains serving several other Piedmond cities and possibly points as far north as Boston.

The service would give travelers — to and from Asheville and seven other communities along the bus route — access to train travel in the relatively near future in the hope of building enough ridership to eventually justify passenger trains on the railroad line between Asheville and Salisbury, according Paul Worley, head of the state Department of Transportation’s Rail Division.

Local and state officials and would-be rail passengers have pushed for establishing rail service to Asheville for more than 10 years, but not much has happened besides renovation of train depots along the route.

The city and state bought property in Biltmore Village in 2005 as a site for a future station, but it has yet to be built.

The Amtrak study to determine how many people might take the through-way bus between Asheville and Salisbury should be completed by late March, Worley said.

The 130-mile route likely would include stops in Black Mountain, Old Fort, Marion and other towns between the two cities.

The buses typically offer “a pretty nice coach experience,” similar to chartered buses, according to Worley. They would run along Interstate 40 from Asheville east to Statesville, then head southeast to Salisbury.