All aboard! Let’s pick the best location for a new Amtrak station in downtown Atlanta.
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) and the City of Atlanta have joined forces to conduct an in-depth $625,000 Passenger Rail Station Alternatives Study to determine where a new Amtrak station should be built in Atlanta. ARC, through federal funds, allocated $500,000 towards the study, while the City of Atlanta is contributing $125,000.
The team has commissioned the engineering firm WSP to lead the planning effort. It is working with Decatur-based Sycamore Consulting, which is overseeing public outreach.
“I’m very optimistic that we are going to put together a plan that identifies an ideal location and outlines the next steps,” said Tejas Kotak, a principal transportation for ARC who is leading the planning effort. “By the end of December, we will identify our ideal location for a future Amtrak station.”
Currently, the region’s only Amtrak station is Brookwood Station — also called Peachtree Station — a facility that is woefully inadequate to serve a major metro area like Atlanta.
Designed by renowned Atlanta architect Neel Reid, Brookwood Station was built in 1918 as a suburban stop at a time when Atlanta had two magnificent railroad palaces, Union Station and Terminal Station, located within blocks of each other in downtown Atlanta. Both stations were shamefully torn down in 1971 and 1972, respectively.
Now an effort (or should I say another effort) is underway to remedy that void in Atlanta.
Kotak said the timing is good given “all the catalytic developments” currently underway downtown. “If we don’t do it now, it will become much more difficult later on,” he added.
Unlike previous attempts to build a multimodal train station downtown, there is additional pressure from Amtrak to develop a new train station.
“We know they need to move their station in the several years because of ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] regulations,” Kotak said. “They have to have something underway by 2027.”
ARC and its consultants are convening stakeholders and inviting input from the public before making recommendations for a new downtown station. They are considering numerous sites, most centered in the historic South Downtown area.
Brian McGowan, president and CEO of Centennial Yards, has been a longtime proponent of a downtown Amtrak station. In fact, the $5 billion CIM development has set aside space for a platform that could serve Amtrak trains.
“We have preserved space for a train platform if at some point in the future, the city, state and federal government decide to move forward with an Amtrak station,” McGowan said. “We are working with MARTA to put a doorway to the station that’s at State Farm Arena. The MARTA station could serve as the Amtrak station.”
Kotak applauded Centennial Yards and CIM for thinking ahead.
“We have talked to CIM, and we are really encouraged that they have set aside that space,” Kotak said. “We need to figure out whether it actually meets all of our needs. We want to make sure we have room to accommodate additional service.”
For decades, the only intercity passenger rail service in Atlanta has been the Amtrak Crescent. There’s a daily train connecting New York City, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans through Atlanta. The train from New York arrives in Atlanta around 9 a.m. before departing for New Orleans. The return train from New Orleans and bound for New York arrives in Atlanta around 11 p.m.
But Amtrak has expressed a desire to make Atlanta a gateway for trains headed for Savannah, Chattanooga and Charlotte among other destinations.
“Here we go again,” A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, laughingly said. “We’ve been talking about a Downtown train station for generations — ever since passenger rail went away.”
But Robinson welcomed the latest initiative, saying it could help bridge metro Atlanta with communities throughout the state.
“It would provide the state with an exceptional boost to connect Atlanta and rural areas,” Robinson said. “There’s an ongoing gap between rural Georgia and metro Atlanta.”
The impetus for the current planning effort came from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Anna Roach, ARC’s executive director. Dickens is also serving as ARC’s board chair.
“It is an opportunity for the city, the region, the state and the federal government to push this along as part of a bigger commitment to passenger rail in the state,” Robinson said. “It comes at a time when the state has a lot of resources. Infrastructure investment is bipartisan.”
Of course, challenges exist. Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern has previously resisted reintroducing passenger trains downtown, saying it needs all its rail capacity for freight.
Kotak said ARC has invited both Norfolk Southern and CSX to be part of the planning process. It might be possible to add a separate rail line dedicated to passenger service, which could “help free up” existing rail lines “to more effectively move freight traffic.”
Another factor is at play. Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, based in Omaha, NE, recently announced their intention to merge. That could mean Norfolk Southern would no longer be based in Atlanta in a couple of years. There’s now a window of opportunity to appeal to Norfolk Southern’s civic responsibility to Atlanta.
Another issue is that Amtrak likely would have to back its trains into downtown Atlanta rather than have a straight shot to New Orleans and New York. But locating a station downtown would give passengers direct access to MARTA’s rail network, linking them to the entire region as well as Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
“Downtown makes all the sense in the world,” Robinson said. “It’s where everything connects.”
Over the decades, there have been numerous plans, conceptual drawings and initiatives to build a major multimodal train station in downtown. But for one reason or another, those plans have never been able to gain traction that would lead to a station being built.
Kotak said this effort is not just about designing a plan. It’s about identifying next steps, including cost estimates and potential funding partners, which could include private developers working with city, regional, state and federal entities to build a station.
“The irony in all this, we have been able to do some really great infrastructure projects — the airport, the port of Savannah…. But when it comes to passenger rail, we just can’t seem to move forward,” Robinson said. “Can we do something like this? Yes, we can. Look at what we’ve done in the past.”
Maria: thank you for this story. It’s such a tragedy that Atlanta tore down BOTH downtown railroad stations — The Terminal and The Union. Franklin Garrett called their destruction “acts of municipal vandalism.”
Put it at the Gulch right by where the others were and all the rail lines come together. There, saved ya almost a million.
Indeed…if only there was a Train Station beside tracks downtown(Georgia Railroad(freight) Depot) where business/political leaders could gather(yearly eggs/issues breakfast) and discuss(or ignore) such lofty matters?!?:¶
Great project. Kudos to the ARC chief and our Mayor, and to Maria for continuing to call attention to Atlanta’s opportunities as a rail transportation center.
I think the renewed gulch is the best long-term location.
It is also time for us to get serious about using all of the rail connections for a link among Georgia’s cities and eventual commuter and regional rail. Virginia’s success connecting to DC will be an obvious learning opportunity for this year’s LINK trip with its regional leaders.
Curious if the Link delegation took flight to this year’s meet(account taking the “midnight train from Georgia”(apologies Gladys Knight and the Pips) just takes too long, and offers only one departure to the meeting area) or in fact rode the rails(to be partially indoctrinated in the subject matter)? All for puting your money where your “mouth is”, raise your hand…and keep it there!
Well, hate to be a killjoy but NS & CSX have both shot down any possibility of a station located in the gulch area (like the prev Atl stations) on multiple occasions or even having passenger trains travel through the gulch, there are too many freight trains running through there and the tracks are a nightmare. Amtrak wants Atl to be a hub and that’s going to require major infastructure constuction and I don’t know if anyone wants to spend that kind of money.
Well, apparently our recent “leader”… “Amtrak”Joe, failed to put “our” money, where his mouth is/was, in terms of expanded passenger rail services in the Southeast, other than doleing out a few million$ to the “consultants”(insultants) for a new Crayon like red, white and blue map of “proposed” new routes/services!?! Places like Virginia, where the passenger rail “vision” was incorporated into that state DOT and directed to purchase/pursue the acquisition of passenger-centric routes/corridors ripe for growth of mostly intrastate routes, but some(CSX’s former S(Seaboard) line) interstate too, which, (co-incidentally, west of Atlanta, is known as the Silver Comet trail) will re-link Richmond and Raleigh with a more or less tangent, high(er) speed service, which would tie-in to North Carolina’s state(taxpayer) owned NCRR which hosts several round trips a day between there and Charlotte. With the proposed merger of current NCRR freight operator, Norfolk Southern, with Union Pacific(to whom the taxed(us), gave rights-of -way for the nations Westward expansion/growth, in exchange for both passenger + freight train service(s)…it remains to be determined, if that merged rail network will honor and live up to the red, white and blue ideals enshrined on UP’s corporate shield? Better for America, the Southeastern U.S., Georgia, North Carolina…only time will tell…but there seems to have developed at railroads in general over the last century, an anti-(scheduled)passenger train bias…just sayin’ (after a life time of observation)!!
Additionally observing…just today(Sept.27) CSX is operating it’s business train through Atlanta(having just returned from celebrating their newly enlarged Howard St. tunnel rebuild in Baltimore, Maryland). While operating overnight from Richmond(8 PM “Wheels up!((lol))) with “guests” aboard who needed to disembark in Atlanta, which failed again, to serve train passengers with an adequate station (Brookwood/Peachtree located atop NS rails), would have required a reverse move, from the closest CSX/W&A(State of GA) tracks(at Howell Jct.), and likely would have caused undue congestion of the rail traffic on the mainlines there(incidentally, a problem the NCRR/Norfolk Southern solved in Raleigh, by constructing a new passenger station at Raleigh’s much less busy, centric(CSX+NS(UP?) rail Jct. (Boylan), but is positioned to be capable of serving any High(er) speed rail routes through their downtown), but CSX guests were detrained (in the rocks) and the train eventually moved toward their former Tilford yard area for continuation of it’s journey through Georgia.
“If we don’t do it now, it will become much more difficult later on,” he added. Personification of all things Atlanta rail. Then again, LINK trip boondoggle may well generate definitive answers. If not, maybe they can get MARTA involved, the common sense consultants.
This “study”, which has been spread across the media infinitely, is pure window dressing. As long as the State of Georgia puts passenger rail below zero in priority, there will be no additional passenger trains of any kind and no need for a new station anywhere. Nothing has happened in 30 years, so why now? Compare Georgia’s attitude to NC and VA.
Mr. Vogel…I am compelled to differ from your assumptions about GA DoT and new passenger rail in our state! There is indeed a new, rapidly growing, passenger rail market in the state of Georgia, stretching from the bergs of Valdosta to Blue Ridge, and from Americus(Plains) to Duluth, and not a one of these busy railroads(Cater-Parrot Rail net’s Azalea Flyer(Moody field-Nashville-Willacoochee), Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad’s frequent,(full) excursion trains on a few routes out of Blue Ridge, SAM Shortline’s Cordele(Railway/Veterans Park’s) to Americus(Plains-((Archery) monthly + holiday/festival) excursion trains, and last but not least, The Southeastern Railway Museum’s vintage equipment trips wholly on SERM grounds in Duluth! These trains are (in-part) state supported, with a mix of funding schemes which support safer tracks, better stations/platforms, tourism and could even promote the varied agricultural products grown/harvested in varied state regions(e.g..think Vidalia onions, Olive/Peach tree orchards, peanuts, Sourwood honey)not to mention Antique store tourists, potentially? All these operations break even and some obviously make trainloads of money! Safety must be the priority, however!
There is a shift happening in Georgia. Political guarantees are no longer the case for Republicans. Center politics with various parties represented at the state level will entice a lot of effort to claim big things to point to in order to keep their jobs. If I were a politician’s PR strategist, I would definitely tell anyone in Georgia to get behind this. It is a Delta and Hartsfield Jackson moment for the city. THIS alone can connect tens of millions in a 3 hour radius of Atlanta.
If they want a better access I think these yards can fit in.
1. CSX Inman Park Reynolds town yards adjacent to Marta Inman Park and Reynolds town station and King memorial station.
2. CSX Old Depot yards. Located in the neighborhood of Kirkwood and Candler Park neighborhood near DeKalb Ave. There is already building that can transform into depot and add a new marta station just for amtrax on the east west line between Eastlake and Edgewood Candler Park marta station.
3. Norfolk Southern West end station. Located near West end marta station. Buyout these old buildings, demolition them and build a brand new amtrac station there link them to west end marta station via Skywalker Bridge.
As noted, additional passenger service in Georgia is needed if Atlanta is to be a passenger rail “Hub”. The present 2 trains a day (one southbound and one northbound) just doesn’t seem to cut it. Not long ago, Amtrak extended passenger service from Washington to the cities of Lynchburg and Roanoke here in Virginia. Passenger ridership numbers have been surprisingly good. Macon has just about twice the population of Lynchburg. And Savannah has about 50,000 more people than Roanoke does. Surely there must be a market…..and Amtrak uses Norfolk Southern tracks to serve both of those cities. In years past, Atlanta rail patrons were connected to Macon and Savannah via the “Nancy Hanks” passenger train via the Central of GA. Ry. (Now NS).
Atlanta doesn’t need a grand rail palace like old Terminal Station, but a better building than the present Brookwood Station. Some of us have been hanging around long enough to recall Terminal Station…I commenced several trips from that beautiful (but worn) structure…including a 7th grade Safety Patrol Special to Washington and back in the Spring of 1962…my first visit to the nation’s capital. My fellow travelers were several hundred excited Atlanta City and Fulton County seventh graders and our teacher chaperones.
‘Municipal Vandalism’, indeed.