Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Georgia > Atlanta
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 04-28-2014, 06:37 PM
 
2,406 posts, read 3,354,042 times
Reputation: 907

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by MattCW View Post
Sorry I don't have concrete numbers for you, and I'm not about to spend three years conducting a government level alternatives analysis just for you either. I'm going from intuition right now, just like people that said MARTA should go up 400 to Windward. No one who said that is wrong, but until MARTA came forward with the numbers, they didn't have them either. Yet by the demands you've expressed in that thread, we shouldn't have pushed for that project either because we had no numbers. No one does at the beginning, not even the government.
What is your best guess? What does your intuition tell you?

Quote:
Except you're trying to make it that. You're so insistent that "it won't work" so why don't you prove that? It's a two-way street. All I've got is other systems that work with similar populations and distances.
Similar populations?

What other city is even close to Raleigh? There is a big difference between 1.2 million (Raleigh) and 300,000 in Columbus metro.

[
Quote:
Why? Because it's not Atlanta? Then by that reasoning, Atlanta shouldn't ever have anything beyond what it has already. If another red state like NC can get regional rail and make it successful, why can't Atlanta? Ok, we don't have the cities lined up end to end along an accessible rail corridor like they do, but we do have a major anchor city and major regional cities to connect up. The four big ones, Chattanooga, Augusta, Macon, Columbus, are all within 3 hours by rail. Macon is within an hour and a half I believe. That makes things easier even than the Chicago network as our lines don't have to go as far to have a big impact.
It is all about the numbers. Even with close to ideal circumstances between Charlotte and Raleigh, they can only muster up 3 trains worth a day.

How many people do you think are really lining up for that Columbus - Atlanta rail route? How much money should be poured into making this route a reality so that we can get 1 or 2 trains going there a day (optimistic)?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-28-2014, 07:26 PM
 
Location: Decatur, GA
7,360 posts, read 6,538,614 times
Reputation: 5187
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtcorndog View Post
What is your best guess? What does your intuition tell you?
My intuition tells me that there would be enough traffic to justify rail service to the four major surrounding cities as well as Charlotte. Birmigham is harder since the rail time is quite a bit longer due to the mountains (Crescent takes 4 hours compared to 2 driving). I also think that HSR via Charlotte, Raleigh and Richmond to Washington DC would be worth it. There's a significant amount of traffic on the existing rail lines and improving the frequencies and travel times can only be for the better. Now I'm not proposing anything like Born2Roll's MARTA to Athens plan with trains every 15 minutes to 70 miles away. But 2-4 roundtrips per day on most corridors should draw sufficient ridership to make it worth it with much greater service on HSR to DC. Most of the routes wouldn't require more than token upgrades, with diesel-hauled coaches.
Quote:
Similar populations?

What other city is even close to Raleigh? There is a big difference between 1.2 million (Raleigh) and 300,000 in Columbus metro.
For the similar populations I was thinking more about the Chicago-centered routes. Carbondale is the terminus of one of the routes and has a population of 25,000 people. If Chicago can make a train work terminating 5 hours and 300 miles away in a city the size of Lawrenceville, I think Atlanta can make a train work terminating 2 hours away in a city of 300,000.
Quote:
It is all about the numbers. Even with close to ideal circumstances between Charlotte and Raleigh, they can only muster up 3 trains worth a day.
They can only muster that not due to lack of demand, but due to lack of funding, and lack of track capacity, both of which are being fixed as we speak. By 2017 I think they want to add a fourth roundtrip. They're also constrained on the physical size of the trains, the existing stations simply can't support any more cars on the Carolinian which provides the link to the Northeast and is badly in need of extension, but work on that end is also underway.
Quote:
How many people do you think are really lining up for that Columbus - Atlanta rail route? How much money should be poured into making this route a reality so that we can get 1 or 2 trains going there a day (optimistic)?
I'll admit, Columbus is a bit hard due to the wonky rail alignment headed that way, there's no direct route LaGrange to Columbus. But Chattanooga, Augusta and Macon could easily support 2-4 roundtrips per day. Macon could probably support full-blown commuter rail with 10+ roundtrips per day. Give people the option to sit instead of drive and they will. The Atlanta-Macon daily commuter trail is larger than most people think.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 08:31 AM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,141,292 times
Reputation: 1781
^ So submit your proposal to Norfold-Southern. They'll probably file it in the shredder. For rail, it's freight.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 12:32 PM
 
Location: Decatur, GA
7,360 posts, read 6,538,614 times
Reputation: 5187
Quote:
Originally Posted by MathmanMathman View Post
^ So submit your proposal to Norfold-Southern. They'll probably file it in the shredder. For rail, it's freight.
Does this post have a point other than to troll? You can't even spell the name of the railroad right.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 02:32 PM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,141,292 times
Reputation: 1781
Quote:
Originally Posted by MattCW View Post
Does this post have a point other than to troll? You can't even spell the name of the railroad right.
Established train companies are not doing passenger rail. Who would know better about the economic climate than them? Amtrak was created to keep passenger rail alive when private companies were quitting the business.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 02:53 PM
 
Location: Decatur, GA
7,360 posts, read 6,538,614 times
Reputation: 5187
Yes, so why are you talking about the freight companies at all then?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 04:30 PM
 
Location: Ono Island, Orange Beach, AL
10,744 posts, read 13,406,153 times
Reputation: 7183
Quote:
Originally Posted by MattCW View Post
Yes, so why are you talking about the freight companies at all then?
I could be wrong, but don't the freight companies own most of the track?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 04:37 PM
 
Location: Decatur, GA
7,360 posts, read 6,538,614 times
Reputation: 5187
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnsleyPark View Post
I could be wrong, but don't the freight companies own most of the track?
Yes, but other than being asked to allow passenger service and what upgrades are required, are otherwise uninvolved.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 05:11 PM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,141,292 times
Reputation: 1781
Quote:
Originally Posted by MattCW View Post
Yes, so why are you talking about the freight companies at all then?
I don't think the businesses are mutually exclusive. If lucrative Norfolk Southern would do it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-30-2014, 05:22 PM
 
Location: Decatur, GA
7,360 posts, read 6,538,614 times
Reputation: 5187
Quote:
Originally Posted by MathmanMathman View Post
I don't think the businesses are mutually exclusive. If lucrative Norfolk Southern would do it.
Except it's not directly profitable. Passenger rail is just like any other public good, roads, parks, police, in that it enables economic activity thus generating profit for the area rather than for the system itself.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2022 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Georgia > Atlanta

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top