(The Center Square) — The federal government has awarded millions of dollars to study possible rail connections nationwide, including in Georgia.
The Federal Railroad Administration awarded $1.5 million to study the possibility of running passenger trains on a trio of corridors in Georgia, including $500,000 to the Georgia Department of Transportation to study a possible Atlanta-to-Savannah line. It also provided $500,000 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to evaluate a Charlotte-to-Atlanta line and $500,000 to the city of Chattanooga to study an Atlanta-to-Chattanooga-to-Nashville-to-Memphis route.
“While the United States has substantially more rail miles than Europe, our country does not utilize rail the same way,” Wes Guckert, president & CEO at The Traffic Group, told The Center Square via email. “Studying the opportunity to produce rail service between cities in Georgia and between cities in neighboring states is an important step forward. It would be far easier to use rail than to drive or to fly to these various cities.
“The cost to the taxpayer for the studies has already been extracted on the federal tax side of the equation,” Guckert added. “Travel in the northeast corridor using Amtrak from Washington, D.C., to New York or Boston is extremely popular and convenient. I would expect that the construction of a new rail line will take a significant amount of time and money. While the estimated cost has yet to be determined, we all know overruns in transportation in the United States are legendary.”
The cost of launching passenger service on any of the corridors remains to be seen. However, an expert told The Center Square that policymakers need to keep in mind the hidden costs of any such service.
“As policymakers study and consider new passenger lines, they must factor in existing demand and realistic projected ridership (against alternative transport methods), the cost of new infrastructure, the new maintenance costs that accrue, and potential costs or disruptions to the freight carriers on those lines,” Benjamin Dierker, executive director of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure, told The Center Square via email. “Some of these tend to be hidden costs or left out of the headlines in reports on potential new passenger services.”
