Atlanta rail system to Augusta, Savannah, Macon, or Columbus (Rome: schools, living in)

[harrat]

What city would you like Atlanta to connect with first. To spur growth in other parts of georgia. And even out the sizes of the cities in the state. What cities would you want to visit, work, play, etc in. Name the top 2 or 3 cities in which Atlanta should build rail too.

[LovinDecatur]

Savannah, definitely. But I think it's a safe assumption that said rail line would stop in Macon.

[atlantagreg30127]

Seriously, and not to tick off the locals there, but what's in Macon that there needs to be a train to connect Atlanta to it? The original plan to connect the Atlanta airport (and downtown) with Chattanooga's airport (with several stops in NW GA. along the way) was a good one. Connecting to Athens via the schools is also a plan. Macon? I don't see it.

[blackrabbit]

High Speed rail to Savannah via Macon. It would be awesome to be able to get to Savannah in 3 hours via rail.

[pickleswanson]

Well go to it's furthest reaches through out the state instead of picking the ones closest by. The ones on the way to its furthest reaches will see the benefits as well. You do not even have to stay within the state boundries if you like. Maybe try breaking away from the interstate commerce and let some of the little guys have fun too.

How about Bainbridge or Thomasville, Waycross, Sylvania, Blairsville & Rome within GA and then via those routes outside of GA to say Tallahassee, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Charleston, SC; Memphis, TN & Knoxville, TN following the same order. Just splitting the interstates right down the middle. More could be added without reason but why should the loners be forgotten.

It will never happen. Just throwing the idea out there.

But since I'm limited to choosing only one I'll choose Savannah because no matter what route they take to get there it will be forced to help out the most places on the way, assuming stops along the way are included.

[pickleswanson]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Seriously, and not to tick off the locals there, but what's in Macon that there needs to be a train to connect Atlanta to it? The original plan to connect the Atlanta airport (and downtown) with Chattanooga's airport (with several stops in NW GA. along the way) was a good one. Connecting to Athens via the schools is also a plan. Macon? I don't see it.

Well I would have to say that the reasoning behind choosing Macon is; it only makes the most economical sense for all areas.

A huge amount of people living in Macon and on the way to MAC work in ATL. It is also a bridge or gateway if you will to the rest of the south.

While I tend to agree with you that the politics and social adgendas of true Maconites would seriously foul up the economical beneifits of having it there. Would some how manage to find a way to ignore the fact that they have yet another very effective resource for growth; there is no sense in ignoring the fact that much of GA and most eveything that is south of ATL generally has to pass through Macon.

For furture expansion of the rail line to other locations, it is just one of the best choices for state and federals dollars to be spent on.

[SEAandATL]

I would like to see a rail line from Atlanta stopping at Macon and Savannah and terminating at Tybee Island. That would allow more Atlantans to spend a day at the beach.

[MorelandWalker]

I think the Brain Train is a good, feasible idea...the lines are there and Athens Transit is already ready for a rail connection, I don't know what's holding it up. It'd be great for alleviating Gwinnett traffic

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by MorelandWalker

I think the Brain Train is a good, feasible idea...the lines are there and Athens Transit is already ready for a rail connection, I don't know what's holding it up. It'd be great for alleviating Gwinnett traffic

The lines are already there between most of the major cities in Georgia.

http://www.garail.com/Media/GRPP%20map/grppmap.GIF

Georgia Rail Passenger Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[aries4118]

Here's another very interesting map (just Metro Atlanta though):


http://tpb.ga.gov/Documents/TPBPropo...ize07-6-07.pdf