Georgia Commuter/HSR Rail Proposals (Georgia Rail Express)

Seems that 'Southern Crescent' is a local name for the area between Atlanta and Macon: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=southern+crescent+georgia

Doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of passing if there are no male sponsors.

neroden wrote:
I wonder what changed the political environment in North Carolina? It was as bad as Georgia 20 years ago. Somehow rail "took off" there, and despite slow progress, money troubles, and political changes, stuff keeps getting improved.

It was?

NC sponsored the Carolinian for a few years in the mid-1980s. Charlotte's light rail planning started in the mid-1980s, too.

I'd guess that the Charlotte-Greensboro-Raleigh corridor just has enough population density to make trains feasible and needed. Georgia just has Atlanta, and only a few smaller and mid-sized cities scattered around the state.

Try again next year.

A last-ditch effort to save a Macon-to-Atlanta high speed rail initiative failed at the State Capitol Wednesday, leaving proponents feeling like they lost on a technicality.

Like a locomotive, the House clerk read a list of so-called "local" bills up for their last chance at passage this year; the one from Atlanta Democrat Keisha Waites never left the station. She sought no funding for the rail corridor, rather the authority to contract with private investors who might be interested in running passenger trains.

http://www.gpb.org/news/2013/03/20/maco ... ill-stalls

Haven't had much on GA Commuter Rail recently. Here's something: WABE

They mention MARTA, and they could be the operator, but this really concerns commuter rail. Brief, fair-use quote:

MARTA Commuter Rail Possible For Clayton County

When Clayton County residents voted last November to join MARTA with a full penny sales tax, their ultimate goal was to be connected to Atlanta with commuter rail. MARTA has been holding constructive discussions with railway giant Norfolk Southern Corporation, which is a welcome change. When MARTA first started talking about commuter rail going to Clayton, Norfolk Southern openly questioned those plan ─ a move that could have killed the MARTA referendum.

Now the railroad and MARTA have reached an understanding, at least in principle. Norfolk Southern will not be sharing its existing tracks with any passenger service. But it is working with MARTA to study the possibility of adding a second set of parallel tracks within Norfolk Southern's right-of-way.

Clayton Commission Chairman Jeff Turner said he was encouraged by that development. That means Norfolk Southern will be able to increase its freight traffic on its own tracks, and MARTA would have the exclusive use of a second set of tracks for passenger service. MARTA would build passing tracks along the way to allow for two-way travel throughout the day.

A lot of this concerns Amtrak and the SEHSR (discussed in a separate topic within this forum); however, there is also reference in here to GA specific proposals including commuter.

State Rail Plan

Jeff Smith wrote:Haven't had much on GA Commuter Rail recently. Here's something: WABE

The three options mentioned are heavy rail, light rail, and bus rapid transit. So if by "commuter rail" you mean a MARTA heavy rail extension then that's what it appears it'll be vs. an actual commuter rail line.

It doesn't say any such thing. The line to Clayton/Lovejoy was always contemplated as commuter rail, not a MARTA extension. Sure, they could extend MARTA past the airport, but would that make any sense? Since they opted in to MARTA, couldn't MARTA just be the operator of the heavy rail system? and bring it up to the contemplated MMPT gulch station?

Personally, I think it'll be a cold day you-know-where before we ever see a true multi-modal station built in the gulch area ...

That land's been sold off, and the opportunity for that has sailed off into the sunset.

More likely, you'll just see a station platform built down at true ground level, next to the 5-points MARTA station, and access provided from one to the other.

Secondary possibility would be something in the Hapeville area, near where the old Ford plant was, with connections to the North-South line there.

Last I heard for Amtrak, after both the MMPT and the Atlantic Station possibilities vaporized, is they're now looking at building something up near the redevelopment of the GM plant in Doraville.

I could be wrong but I don't think MMPT has been eliminated as an Atlanta idea; you'd have to check the draft rail plan. I'll do that later.

Atlantic Station is definitely no longer a possibility.

The Amtrak forum has a topic on the Doraville possibility, which I think has a real chance as it benefits everyone, especially compared to the old Southern Railway Peachtree station.

The draft plan still shows it ... but since the land it was supposed to go on has been sold, I don't see any way it could ever happen ...

NH2060 wrote:

Jeff Smith wrote:Haven't had much on GA Commuter Rail recently. Here's something: WABE

The three options mentioned are heavy rail, light rail, and bus rapid transit. So if by "commuter rail" you mean a MARTA heavy rail extension then that's what it appears it'll be vs. an actual commuter rail line.

Wrong, Commuter Rail is still a serious proposal and likely the leading proposal due to the time and costs involved.

litz wrote:The draft plan still shows it ... but since the land it was supposed to go on has been sold, I don't see any way it could ever happen ...

What land has been sold?

Matt - the proposed site for the MMPT ...

Part of the Falcons stadium deal, I think it was ...

I don't think so since the new stadium is all on the west side of the mainline while the MMPT's track facilities were all over or east of the mainline.

I don't think it was actually for the stadium itself, but I'm sure I remember reading about a sale of the property as part of the whole deal that got that approved ...

(maybe for parking?)