ATLANTA – By the middle of the next decade, Georgians may be able to travel between Atlanta and Savannah by high-speed rail, avoiding traffic and expensive air fares.
The state Department of Transportation has launched a study of the feasibility of connecting the two urban centers with an intercity passenger rail line. The agency held the first “stakeholder” meeting online in January to begin gathering public feedback on the project, with more planned later this year.
If that first session is any indication, Georgians are enticed by the idea, said Clement Solomon, director of the DOT’s Intermodal Division. The meeting drew more than 4,000 public comments, Solomon said.
“There’s definitely interest,” he said. “It could potentially reduce the challenges we have today.”
The idea of bringing intercity passenger rail to Georgia goes back decades and takes up voluminous studies. Various projects have been held out as giving travelers an alternative to growing traffic congestion along the state’s interstate highway corridors.
Besides the Atlanta-to-Savannah proposal, the DOT also is participating in studies involving potential passenger rail lines that would run from Atlanta to Charlotte, N.C., and from Atlanta through Chattanooga, Tenn., and Nashville to Memphis.
“We need to have ways to connect our communities,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said. “Rail is really the way for us to be able to connect.”
The new study of an Atlanta-to-Savannah rail line is in the early stages. Planners have yet to decide which of several potential routes to use, where stations should be located, or which technology to employ.
The DOT also hasn’t identified funding sources for the project, beyond $10 million in planning money for the study – an $8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration and a $2 million state match.
Solomon said the DOT is considering three options for the routes: building it along existing rail lines, building a new line completely separate from existing lines, or going with a combination of new and existing track.
That decision will go a long way toward deciding where to build stations. Cities the study is considering as potential station locations include Augusta, Athens, Macon, Milledgeville, Statesboro, and Vidalia, in addition to the ends of the line in Atlanta and Savannah.
Solomon said the DOT likely will opt for high-speed rail as the preferred technology because that’s what the public wants. High-speed trains can travel at speeds of least 125 miles per hour, cutting travel times.
“People want to get there,” he said.
Solomon said choosing high-speed rail would have a major impact on locating stations along the route.
“(High-speed rail) reduces the number of stations,” he said. “If you have 10 stations, it defeats the purpose of high-speed rail.”
Bert Brantley, president and CEO of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, injected a note of caution in the planning for intercity passenger rail. He noted the potential of a high-speed rail line to disrupt freight rail traffic moving in and out of the Port of Savannah, the lifeblood of the region’s economy. Indeed, how freight rail and passenger rail would coordinate along the same tracks has served as an obstacle to previous passenger rail projects that haven’t come to fruition.
“It’s not the no-brainer people might assume,” Brantley said. “We have to be very careful. We don’t want to create a benefit that comes at the expense of jobs, growth, and new investment.”
Under the timeline set for the DOT feasibility study, initial planning will take place this year through 2027, with the agency deciding such issues as the route, station locations, and the technology that will be used. If the project is deemed feasible, an environmental impact study will begin in 2028.