In 2030, you will be able to ride high-speed passenger rail from Columbus to Atlanta for $41 one-way. That’s what the 2014 Columbus-to-Atlanta High Speed Rail Feasibility Study shows.
According to the study, the ride will take approximately 60 minutes with one stop in Newnan. The electrified train will travel up to 220 mph. The 91 miles of rail will stretch along existing right-of-way on I-85 and I-185 between the two cities. The line, including stations and six electric trains, will cost $3.9 billion, with a generous 30 percent contingency. This cost is comparable to other major mass transit projects at $42.5 million per mile.
The line is expected to accommodate 1.1 million riders in its first year of operation. Its first-year profitability ratio is expected to be 1.21, meaning that its $23.6 million anticipated annual revenue stream will offset its $19.5 million annual maintenance and operations costs. This profitability ratio is expected to grow each year to an estimated 1.34 in 2040 and 1.5 in 2050. Such a rail line would create a minimum of 11,000 jobs.
This is a viable concept conceived by the Columbus, Ga., Commission on High Speed Passenger Rail led by co-chairs state Rep. Calvin Smyre and attorney Edward Hudson and made up of business and civic leaders, transportation representatives, and other citizen stakeholders. For two years this group has met, hiring the national rail planning firm of HNTB to perform a feasibility study consistent with Federal Railroad Administration criteria. That study found the rail opportunity to be feasible and worthy of an implementation strategy.
Could the Columbus-Atlanta line be Georgia’s first high-speed passenger rail? Yes, it could, and it should be.
This is not your father’s Amtrak. This line could be privately run, given its potential for sustained annual profit. It could be financed through public/private ventures to include federal TIGER grants, multi-modal funding, transportation bonds, commercial loans and/or future T-SPLOST monies. We are not talking about a rail line dependent on ticket sales to casual weekend tourists going to Atlanta for a Braves game, or to Columbus for world-class whitewater rafting. We are talking about connecting all the economic resources of the state’s largest city with those of its second-largest city, and having the benefit of two separate infrastructure grids to support that expansion.
We would link with Atlanta some 202,000 Columbus residents, one of the nation’s largest military training bases (Ft. Benning Maneuver Center of Excellence), the Aflac and TSYS international headquarters, and other Columbus economic interests. We would connect Georgia State University with Columbus State University, Emory University Hospital with southwest Georgia’s Regional Medical Center, and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport with the Columbus Airport, possibly increasing capacity for both.
The pitch to the Federal Railroad Administration is that the nation needs to invest in the Columbus-Atlanta high speed rail line because: 1) it is projected to be profitable; 2) it is less costly to construct than most; 3) the right-of-way is largely in hand, and 4) there are no passenger/freight shared rail issues with Norfolk Southern and CSX.
In addition, Georgia has a little-known asset that could make all of this particularly viable. The state has a Rail Passenger Authority; it’s just not active or funded. The authority was created in 1985. It has broad powers to execute contracts for planning, designing, constructing, financing and operating passenger rail projects. The authority can issue bonds for rail projects and coordinate partnerships with state and local governments.
Gov. Zell Miller appointed the first authority members in 1994, but the authority lost funding in 2005, and no one can remember the last appointee. Yet with the nomination of a few folks knowledgeable about the subject, Georgia would be poised among the leading states in high-speed passenger rail, and Columbus and Atlanta would be among the nation’s leading intra-state passenger rail cities.
High-speed rail links cities into integrated regions that function as a single stronger economy. It broadens labor markets and offers workers a wider network of employers. Rail encourages technology clusters with fast, easy access between locations and expands tourism markets. This viable concept of high-speed passenger rail is an antidote to the sluggish economic recovery the state has endured. It is the next leg in our journey to economic growth for the entire state.
Teresa Pike Tomlinson is mayor of Columbus.
