David Benton wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 5:38 am
Why not have multiple stops in the Atlanta metro area?. Well at least Peachtree and one other.
Say I'm going to a convention in Atlanta, down town. No car, taking Amtrak in. The convention is at the Marriott Marquis Atlanta. It's downtown in the hotel district. It's a few blocks from MARTA's Peachtree Center.
That's not where the Amtrak stop is.
Amtrak Peachtree is on the corner of
Peachtree Street and Deering Road in Brookwood, well north of Peachtree Center. It's not down town and you have to get on the 110 bus to Arts Center station and transfer to the rail line there to get down town.
Some of you are reaching to point out Baltimore's Penn Station as the same, to which I counter that it's a major station on the NEC with 4 functional tracks (expanding to 8), a Light Rail track to get you into Downtown and the Inner Harbor (Go see an burd game, hon!), and four bus lines that drop you right into Downtown straight-shot. Atlanta is a side-platform one track station with no direct link to a subway or light rail and only a single bus connecting it, plus you need to transfer to get anywhere. The closest similarity would be the BWI station.
Now, build a station at Brookhaven/Oglethorpe, with plenty of room to do three platforms, pre-existing parking, and that link to the MARTA rail station there, and you solve the transfer problem and some freight issues as well. Its not as good as a downtown station, but at least you have room for it (and a Waffle House nearby).