The CEO of Amtrak Thinks Americans Are Ready for Trains Again

Absolutely agree. There's a lot of untapped potential along the 75 corridor. I'm currently in Warner Robins; pretty busy mainline, and a nice old station.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:28 am The platform track is a main line track IIRC; although there is a freight "bypass" behind the platform, Amtrak still gums up the works.

When they turn there, it also ties up traffic.

They've been talking about moving out of Peachtree station for a while, and NS would definitely be happy if they did. If so doing would create a platform siding similar to Savannah or such, and somewhere to store a day train, they'd be very happy.

The one thing ending a train in Atlanta has in its favor is avoiding Howell Junction.

Ultimately, I'd like to see a continuation south, perhaps off a Chattanooga routed train, via Macon on to Savannah, or even Valdosta/Waycross.

Assuming you cannot reroute the Crescent, but move the station, I would move it to Brookhaven where the MARTA station is. Widen two bridges, add a pocket track, and put the station there. Probably will need two interlocks.

Rerouting... no, there isn't a good way to reconnect to Crescent, looking at the current maps. What a mess.

Just booked the first Amtrak trip since Feb 2020 for the family to go from BOS to Lancaster, PA. Amtrak's site seems much better than I remember, and it was pretty easy to reserve seats for the NEC trains. One oddity is that Business Class on Regional #94 for the return leg was $20 cheaper per person.

Anyhow, card time for the trip was about 7.5 hours, which is pretty comparable to the G Maps estimate of 5.5-7.0 hours (assuming one drove non-stop). That made it a no-brainer.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 5:12 pm Assuming you cannot reroute the Crescent, but move the station, I would move it to Brookhaven where the MARTA station is. Widen two bridges, add a pocket track, and put the station there. Probably will need two interlocks.

Mr. Wolf, the Red Line MARTA station you note is named Medical Center, and such facilities are built adjacent to it.

I know the area "pretty well", as when, pre and hopfully post COVID, visiting friends twice a year down there. I always stay at either Crowne in Dunwoody or Hyatt in Brookhaven (Crowne, by the way, seems to host a fantasy author Robert Jordan convention; nice bunch of young people when they take their headdresses off; I'm sure not going to get like somebody did on Trip Advisor, "writing up the hotel" for filling up their rooms).

There's no room to build a combined Amtrak-MARTA station there. However, over at Doralville (and maybe that is where you meant), is "a horse of a different color". But then I should defer to Mr. Shivik who resides over in that part of the Metro area.

The area, generally known as Buckhead, is definitely a good area, and a destination in and of itself. I've stayed at the JW Marriott there, and both MARTA (Lenox station) and the NS tracks run behind it.

The Medical Center station Mr. Norman mentions is right next to where I worked for Cox in their tax department; my daughters were born at Northside Women's Center Hospital. Also very convenient, near the Perimeter area and Dunwoody.

Mr. Norman, when I'm in that area, I like to stay at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North .

Ridgefielder wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:51 am

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:28 am Ultimately, I'd like to see a continuation south, perhaps off a Chattanooga routed train, via Macon on to Savannah, or even Valdosta/Waycross.

You get to Waycross, you may as well go the extra 60 miles to Jacksonville, FL.
55k people in "metro" Waycross vs. 1.5mm in metro J'ville.

I wonder how many EIS studies GDOT have underway presently, are they even looking at connecting Atlanta with Savanah?
Here's what I have found, feasibility study for 3 routes recommending Tier 1 EIS follow ups. I did not find any Tier 1 studies except for the previously discussed Atlanta to Charlotte route.
http://www.dot.ga.gov/InvestSmart/Rail/ ... 20study%2A
Atlanta-Birmingham Benefit-Cost Ratios
Conservative Intermediate Optimistic
Shared Use 0.80 0.88 0.95
Dedicated Use 0.48 0.92 1.13

Atlanta-Macon-Jacksonville Benefit-Cost Ratios
Conservative Intermediate Optimistic
Shared Use 0.92 1.00 1.07
Dedicated Use 0.49 0.93 1.12

Atlanta-Louisville Benefit-Cost Ratios
Conservative Intermediate Optimistic
Shared Use 0.71 0.78 0.85
Dedicated Use 0.40 0.78 0.96
Maglev 0.34 0.65 0.80

None of the alternate routes look really promising under a conservative or intermediate viewpoints.
Maybe why none have had Tier 1 studies underway.

I was looking at Google Maps and OpenStreetMap for an area next to a MARTA station that we could plunk a platform on a pocket track for. Glad to hear there's "boots on the ground" for this area. The idea is "There's a convention down town, transfer rail to rail to get there."

...um, are we getting a bit off topic for the thread, though?