ASHEVILLE - This city's last official passenger rail service left with a train car pulling out on Aug. 8, 1975.

That final Asheville passenger train has been followed by decades of attempts to bring the service back to Western North Carolina, which once thrived with rail connections.

Now 43 years later, after near victories derailed by a natural disaster and an economic calamity, advocates say there is a real chance to reconnect Asheville and Western North Carolina to the country's passenger rail system.

Following a push by advocates, City Council and other local governments, the chairman of North Carolina House Transportation Committee said Tuesday he will consider a request for two years of funding of up to $890,000 to cover expenses for an Asheville-to-Salisbury bus run by Amtrak, the quasi-public entity in charge of rail service.

"I'm excited about the opportunity," Transportation Chairman John Torbett, R-Gaston, said in a phone interview with the Citizen Times. "We have to get down and look at all the nuts and bolts."

Will the governor include funding for the connection?

Torbett said he ultimately would "love to see a rail connection up there," something that advocates say the bus could lead to if it draws enough passengers.

Also on the committee is Rep. Michele Presnell, A Republican whose 118th district covers Madison and Yancey counties and most of Haywood County. Presnell did not immediately respond to an afternoon email asking whether she supported the funding.

The General Assembly is waiting to start serious finance discussions until Gov. Roy Cooper presents his proposed budget, something that could happen in mid- to late-March, Torbett estimated.

MORE: State of WNC's railroads: Economic engine continues to evolve

MORE Asheville could take bus to Salisbury to get to train

The chairman said he is waiting to see if the governor includes the bus money.

If funding is ultimately approved, actual bus service could start sometime in 2020, according to Ray Rapp, a former House member from Madison County and a vocal rail champion who estimated 6-12 months to start the service from the time it is funded.

"It’s seemed to me from the vantage of economic development, Asheville has always been such a destination, particularly for people from Florida or New York," Rapp said. "And there are still a lot of people who do not like to fly."

How the connection would work

With a bus connection, passengers would buy one ticket that would provide for bus and train travel and also the transport of their baggage.

The Salisbury connection is being made instead of a southerly route, which would be closer except the tracks in that direction have been disconnected, Rapp said.

Amtrak has asked for the state to put aside up to $400,000 per year to pay for the service, plus $90,000 for a consultant to handle the contract between the state and DOT and help prepare local stations.

Amtrak estimated there would be 2,100 bus passengers, a number that "depressed" him, Rapp said. But the former legislator said an estimate completed in January by the rail division of the North Carolina Department of Transportation put the number much higher at 13,000. He has proposed to legislators such as Torbett that fair revenues for any passengers over the 2,100 number be applied to the subsidy instead of state money.

If the bus route is successful, transportation officials say it could lead to full-fledged rail service. To bolster that, Rapp and others are also working to boost freight rail as well as tourist excursion trains.

As a chairman of a House rail committee, Rapp said he helped get Amtrak bus links from Moorehead City and Wilmington to the Wilson train station, routes that have exceeded ridership expectations.

Where could you go?

Right now the closest Amtrak station is in Spartanburg, South Carolina, an hour and 12 minute drive from Asheville. Under the newest proposal passengers would catch an Amtrak Thruway bus from Asheville to Salisbury, a two-hour and 11-minute car trip. Destinations from there:

Salisbury-Greensboro: One hour, 52 minutes (Tickest starting at $10).

Salisbury-Raleigh: Two hours, 30 minutes (Tickets starting at $26.50).

Salisbury-Washington, D.C.: Seven hours, 21 minutes (Tickets starting at $95).

Asheville was next on the list, but massive flooding in 2004 diverted $450 million in state money to disaster relief. The route was set for state funding again in 2008, but the Great Recession put it on the back burner.

The city, meanwhile, used federal and state money to buy land for a passenger rail and multimodal facility which has not been built.

Now Rapp is involved with the Western North Carolina Rail Committee, a nonprofit reconfigured from a group started by the chamber of commerce. He has made the pitch to various WNC local governments, including Asheville's council on Feb. 12, where the city's elected officials unanimously passed a resolution supporting state funding for the bus.

Councilman Keith Young called the idea "exciting" and said he remembered using the train as a college student.

"It was a very economical way for me to travel back and forth going home."

Councilwoman Julie Mayfield urged people who want passenger rail to support the early effort.

"I hope that it’s coming and I hope that we all can get on that bus so we can get on that train."

What does North Carolina have planned for Asheville passenger rail?

Here's the official statement on the state Department of Transportation's website.

Western North Carolina

To extend passenger rail service to Asheville and western North Carolina, the N.C. Department of Transportation, in March 2001, adopted a phased plan that includes renovating or building train stations that incorporate other community uses.

NCDOT works with communities on station and rail safety improvements while identifying funding to restore passenger rail service to the western part of the state.

In the interim, NCDOT has requested that Amtrak update a study that analyzes the feasibility of operating an Amtrak Thruway Bus service between Salisbury and Asheville. The service would gauge public interest in a mass transit option between Salisbury and Asheville and function as an intermediate step before seeking a more capital-intensive, long-term rail option.