Rail Travel and Stations (Atlanta, Decatur: hotels, house, transfer)

[RainyRainyDay]

This morning I picked up my husband and daughter from the Amtrak station down in Buckhead. They were a little groggy after traveling Amtrak all the way from Montreal (yes, really) and sitting up in coach last night, but they had a fine trip overall.

We noticed how tiny the station is, and my husband theorized that it was probably originally just a suburban stop and there would have been a much bigger main passenger terminal downtown. Indeed, a little internet research reveals this is so Atlanta depots.

It's too bad Atlanta's two big passenger terminals were both destroyed in the 70s. Their photos look pretty interesting. I'm figuring that some of the folks on the forum here might have interesting memories of visiting these places and traveling by rail in past decades.

One way of attacking the oil crisis that I'd love to see, would be a reemphasis on rail for both freight and passengers. It's so fuel-efficient, and for people, a much more comfortable and versatile mode of travel than air or driving, for medium distances. I imagine Joe Biden doing useful reading and writing (and I guess in latter years, phone calls) on all those commutes between Delaware and DC. You can't do that in a car.

[atlantagreg30127]

For years they toyed around with the idea of building a multi-use transit station downtown near Centennial Park. It would house various MARTA and suburban bus transfer locations as well as Amtrak. But, well, the Mayor that spearheaded it is now in Federal Prison (or just out), and the other one lost over $100 million in City budget money not long ago. The State of Georgia contributes exactly "zero" dollars to Atlanta's transit projects as well. So, you can do the math to figure out what the chances are anytime soon of that new station being built.

On the slightly bright side, Obama is said to be very much for alternative transit projects (rail, high speed rail, etc), so maybe if the next Mayor is on the ball, they can get some Federal Funds for such a project.

It would be nice to hop on a train and go places. Unfortunately, I'm from WV. If I wanted to go home via Amtrak, it would cost approximately twice what an airline ticket would cost, and I'd have an 18 hour layover in D.C. before finishing my trip. Ugh. I'll drive. But yeah, we do need a bigger and more convenient station for the routes it DOES do through here.

[Iconographer]

^As far as I know, there is only one Amtrak train that runs through Atlanta now; the old 'Southern Crescent' line that runs from Washington DC to New Orleans.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

^As far as I know, there is only one Amtrak train that runs through Atlanta now; the old 'Southern Crescent' line that runs from Washington DC to New Orleans.

Actually from New York (Penn Station) all the way to New Orleans.

My family boarded in New York, where they overnighted at the Pennsylvania Hotel (dingy but relatively cheap) across from the station, after traveling on the "Adirondack" from Montreal the previous day.

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

My family boarded in New York, where they overnighted at the Pennsylvania Hotel (dingy but relatively cheap) across from the station, after traveling on the "Adirondack" from Montreal the previous day.

Good God, I thought they'd already started knocking down the Hotel Pennsylvania! (aka "Hotel Transylvania" among those of us who've had to stay there). They're still open? By far the worst of the many New York hotels I've been in (though not by a lot). Humor columnist Dave Barry is a veteran of the Transylvania also: Hotel, shmotel — I'll stay in the shtreet (http://web.dailycamera.com/community/stories/02pbar.html - broken link)

[billl]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

One way of attacking the oil crisis that I'd love to see, would be a reemphasis on rail for both freight and passengers. It's so fuel-efficient, and for people, a much more comfortable and versatile mode of travel than air or driving

There is already a great deal of freight that moves by rail in the US. Most of the rail lines are owned by freight companies (for example, CSX). In fact, freight is so dominant on the US rails that it would hamper any move to increase the amount of passenger use of the rails. The freight companies don't want passenger trains getting in their way.

Passenger rail in this country is in a sad sad state. In the 60s and 70s a choice was made to emphasize air and personal car travel, to the detriment of existing rail services. There are exceptions, like the eastern seaboard, where reasonable commuter rail services already exist between major cities. It would take a long time and tremendous effort to resurrect passenger rail in this country. I doubt it will ever happen. Instead we have to rely on bankrupt airlines.

[billl]

About 2 years ago I had a need to travel to DC for a week. I seriously looked in to taking Amtrak to get there as I've never travelled cross country by rail and I knew that getting to DC by rail would be relatively easy. Leave Atlanta at 8 pm and arrive in DC around 10 am. The most interesting part of the trip is at night, so you still can't see anything. The return trip is the same: leave at 6:30 pm and arrive at 8 am. And since it's an overnighter (both ways) I didn't want to ride coach. A sleeper car was as much as a first class airline ticket! So I took the airlines.