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.

The full board will vote on the recommendation on Thursday.

Georgia has not been a big winner in federal rail grants recently. Florida and North Carolina won huge federal stimulus grants to start building high speed rail, where Georgia won just $750,000.

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