Atlanta-Savannah high speed rail loop?

A high-speed passenger rail line would loop through Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, Savannah, Macon, and back to Atlanta under a new plan conceived at the state Department of Transportation. A DOT board committee on Wednesday recommended asking for planning money for that route and others, from a $115 million pot of federal high-speed rail planning funds.

DOT would ask $4.5 million in planning funds for that “capital-coastal” loop; $7 million for the Atlanta-Charlotte line; $3 million for the Atlanta-Macon line; and $2 million to update the state rail plan.

The state would have to pay 20 percent toward the studies’ costs, “Which we all know is a challenge,” said Dana Lemon, who chairs the board’s intermodal committee and helped think up the idea for the train loop.