Atlanta as an Intercity Rail Hub? (Macon, East Point: rental car, sales, rental)

[GlobalistPotato]

Are there any plans out there designed to increase intercity rail service in Georgia? Particularly through Atlanta?
Currently, only one train, Amtrak's Crescent, passes through Atlanta. Once a day, in the morning and evening.
I've heard some people thinking of making Atlanta into an Intercity rail hub, with services to other major cities in Georgia and outside the state.
It doesn't matter if it's conventional trains or true high speed rail, I'm just wondering if there are any plans or proposals.

[cwkimbro]

You might want to do a search on this forum... you will find lots of stuff on this issue... I'll provide you a few starting links and tidbits though.

In the mid 90's the state DOT created a statewide passenger rail plan and a commuter rail service plan. They have gotten very little funding. The first segment of a Atlanta-Macon route received federal dollars, but the state refused to pay a 10-15% match + guarantee operating costs for so many years (about a decade or so). They never spent the money...and I think it is mostly lost.

Right now the biggest hope is the downtown multimodal station/terminal. It is going through the public/private initiative right now. (search the forums for more info.

Commuter plan:
http://www.dot.state.ga.us/traveling...terRailMap.pdf
Statewide plan:
http://www.dot.state.ga.us/traveling...gerRailMap.pdf

you can also google/forum search information on Atlanta's Concept3 long-term plan. As it is multi-jurisdictional it is more of a guided vision for all to follow.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

In the mid 90's the state DOT created a statewide passenger rail plan and a commuter rail service plan. They have gotten very little funding. The first segment of a Atlanta-Macon route received federal dollars, but the state refused to pay a 10-15% match + guarantee operating costs for so many years (about a decade or so). They never spent the money...and I think it is mostly lost.

Right now the biggest hope is the downtown multimodal station/terminal. It is going through the public/private initiative right now. (search the forums for more info.

It looks plans for the multimodal terminal are in jeopardy. Also the commuter line between Lovejoy and downtown Atlanta.

A key development project planned for downtown Atlanta is in danger of falling off a list of transportation improvements metro voters will be asked to fund next year.

A request for $50 million to help build a bus and rail passenger terminal in the blighted “Gulch” area has been removed from the latest project lists a committee of local elected officials is assembling for a 2012 referendum on a regional transportation sales tax.

Combined with another move by the regional “roundtable” to cut from the list a proposed commuter rail line linking Atlanta and Griffin, Ga., the omission of the Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal (MMPT) threatens both downtown revitalization and plans for a rail network connecting the economically depressed south side with the rest of the region.

Multi-modal terminal funding at risk - Atlanta Business Chronicle

[testa50]

My opinion on the MMPT is that it isn't immediately necessary to Atlanta's train network, and especially the Lovejoy line. You're probably looking at a major chunk of people transferring onto MARTA at the Five Points station anyways, so you might as well just make the commuter train end at East Point (where it will join up with the MARTA line and run side-by-side with it for 6 miles) and have a transfer station onto MARTA (by "transfer station" I literally mean a concrete platform with an awning, a ticket window, and a sidewalk to MARTA). Save tons on money on track upgrades for those last 6 miles.

In the future, whenever we get more money, build it out to downtown and whatever unified terminal we build, but let's just get something going now!

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by testa50

My opinion on the MMPT is that it isn't immediately necessary to Atlanta's train network, and especially the Lovejoy line. You're probably looking at a major chunk of people transferring onto MARTA at the Five Points station anyways, so you might as well just make the commuter train end at East Point (where it will join up with the MARTA line and run side-by-side with it for 6 miles) and have a transfer station onto MARTA (by "transfer station" I literally mean a concrete platform with an awning, a ticket window, and a sidewalk to MARTA). Save tons on money on track upgrades for those last 6 miles.

In the future, whenever we get more money, build it out to downtown and whatever unified terminal we build, but let's just get something going now!

The ABC article Arjay notes goes on to say: "'The multi-modal project has more than enough private interests and resources, so it didn't need to be included on the list," Reed said."

I hope that's right...

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

The ABC article Arjay notes goes on to say: "'The multi-modal project has more than enough private interests and resources, so it didn't need to be included on the list," Reed said."

I hope that's right...

I hope so too, Ansley.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I hope so too, Ansley.

You know, this country used to could execute BIG ideas - interstate highway system, Hoover Damn, Panama Canal, the Apollo program. What happened to us? Where did we lose our ideals? Now all we seem to do is bicker, be partisan, point fingers and take no responsibility. It's really sad, honestly. Where are Harry Truman and JFK when we need them???

[flyonpa]

The Federal Gov, can no longer afford these types of big projects.

Other then a few limited markets in the US, Rail is dead, Even High speed rail. There is not enought traffic to go few times a day to the 'near' by High Speed railable cities. And the time beween trains, and the 'last' mile, where you need to get a rental car at the other end to get to where you want to go, makes driving there yourself more time/cost effective.

[K-SawDude]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

You know, this country used to could execute BIG ideas - interstate highway system, Hoover Damn, Panama Canal, the Apollo program. What happened to us? Where did we lose our ideals? Now all we seem to do is bicker, be partisan, point fingers and take no responsibility. It's really sad, honestly. Where are Harry Truman and JFK when we need them???

My opinion: a reckless sense of individualism. People have been brainwashed to believe that we shouldn't pool resources together for such big projects anymore. Instead, we should just let the "captains of industry" decide what's worth taking a chance on. Of course, these captains tend to not care about big ideas in and of themselves unless they're deemed immediately profitable in the short run. Thus, we tend to get a lot more "Oohhh...look at that shiny thing!" (a.k.a. cheap disposable crap nobody really needs nor is inspired by) and a lot less "Great Wonders of the World."

I'd also say there's a dangerous strand of anti-government and anti-intellectualism on the rise that also discourages the implementation of such big thinking.

[cwlawrence]

The high-speed rail line proposed between Atlanta and Chattanooga is still alive and kicking. Environmental studies are currently being conducted. It's a long way off, and just not making headlines right now. Also, the multi-modal station is still in the works. That too is undergoing various types of review and studies, much of the funding for this phase has already been approved and like the article states, there are lots of other funding sources aside from the referendum. And don't leave out the Beltline trolley... that too is currently moving forward (I just had a meeting on it last week).

The difference between the hay days of the Interstate or the Hoover Dam and today have less to do with money and more to do with the increased complexity of planning. In the past, if Robert Moses said build it, it was built, let the minorities and the poor be damned. Today, we are a bit more sensitive.