Downtown Hub for Amtrak in Atlanta proposed

[jis]

Sounds to me like a lot of money for a location served once a day each way, and maybe used by 50K passengers per year (according to Wikipedia). Even spread over 20 years, that's 700 dollars per passenger over the next 20 years.

You don't need a hub to serve only one train per day. Clearly the intention is to make it a hub, i.e have several regional trains radiate out from it and have additional LD service call there too. Otherwise at least it seems to me to be pointless if only one train is to serve it with no order of magnitude rise in usage.

 

[jimdex]

If Atlanta is going to be any kind of hub, it will need a new station. The current Atlanta Amtrak station is unsuitable to serve anything but Atlanta-New Orleans trains. A train between Chicago, Atlanta and Florida or running on any portion of that route would have to back up to reach the station. That would likely tie up a busy freight line for more than an hour in both directions, because there are only two through tracks and a siding at the station, and there's no room for anything else.

 

[west point]

Yes, Atlanta needs a station hub in the downtown Gulch. The proposed future Amtrak trains from Nashville, CHA, Savannah, Macon, JAX, DFW, & Montgomery will all need tracks and platforms for terminations and connections. Possible commuter north service from Bremen, Cartersville, Canton, Gainesville, Cedartown, Rome, & Athens will all have to travel thru Howell CP. As of now there are 4 parallel main tracks of NS &CSX from Howell to the downtown gulch, At one-time there was a 5th SOU team track west of those 4 that may allow restoration to a main track. But the CP at Howell does need vertical separation of NS from CSX for all these future services.

Future commuter service from the East -- Stone Mountain & Covington. Commuter service from Macon, Griffin, Manchester, LaGrange, & Columbus also possible, 4 Main tracks are feasible from East Point to the gulch.

So, any station built in the gulch will need a final plan for future additional station tracks as all these services are implemented. Probably design for max of 10 - 14 or whatever real estate allows max tracks and just build 4 - 6 with a loop to / from Howell. For a start that will give a location to store spare Amtrak cars & any private cars including NS office cars.

The NS 2 main tracks from Duluth to Howell has already space for a 3rd or 4th main track. That will be possible once the present Amtrak station is abandoned with some bridges needing another track space. Ga DOT has for several past years already built bridges and underpasses with room for 1 or more additional tracks,