The Biden administration announced Friday that it will spend $1.5 million to study three passenger rail projects that would pass through Atlanta.
The administration will award the North Carolina Department of Transportation up to $500,000 for a Charlotte-to-Atlanta high-speed rail project. The money would be used to develop a scope, schedule and cost estimate for a service development plan.
The route has been studied for years — state and federal officials identified a preferred Atlanta-to-Charlotte route in 2021. But don’t expect to catch a high-speed train anytime soon. No state or federal funds have been set aside to build the project, estimated to cost up to $8.4 billion. And there’s no timetable for construction.
The Biden administration also announced up to $500,000 each to study two conventional passenger rail projects that would serve Atlanta.
The Georgia Department of Transportation would continue developing a service development plan for an Atlanta-to-Savannah rail route — another long-sought route.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, would develop a scope, schedule and cost estimate for preparing a service development plan for passenger rail service connecting Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Tennessee, and Memphis, Tennessee.
No timetable has been announced for building either of the conventional rail projects.
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