Only a day old, and already MARTA's push to greatly expand rail service in metro Atlanta is in trouble.

S.B. 313, which would permit a referendum to accomplish this, was dropped Monday by state Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, as had been advertised.

Also on Monday, at 8:35 a.m., state Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, tapped out the following on Facebook:

On a first reading today, S.B. 313 was assigned to a committee. One might think that a MARTA bill might go to the Senate Transportation Committee.

This one didn’t. The bill was assigned to the State and Local Government Operations Committee. Chaired by the aforementioned rail skeptic, John Albers. The committee is nicknamed SLO-GO.