ATLANTA — The Atlanta Regional Commission and the city of Atlanta are funding a study to determine a site for a new Amtrak station in the city.
“Relocating and modernizing the Atlanta Amtrak Station could create opportunities to improve customer service, ADA accessibility, and multimodal connections for rail travelers,” the ARC says in an online introduction to information about the study. “The relocated station would also serve as a signature local destination and gateway to the city for visitors while providing scalability for longer term service improvements between Atlanta and other cities.”
The commission is providing $500,000 toward the $625,000 study, with the city contributing the remainder, according to the Saporta Report news site. Engineering consultants WSP are leading the study, with Sycamore Consulting overseeing public outreach. A community survey currently in progress is slated to be completed in October, after which a stakeholder meeting will assess sites, with a draft recommendation due this fall. A public meeting on that recommendation is planned for December.
Amtrak requested $30 million for a new Atlanta station as part of its budget request for fiscal 2025, which would be sued for property acquisition for a project that could ultimately cost up to $700 million, the website Urbanize Atlanta reported last year.
Atlanta’s current Peachtree Station is about 3.5 miles north of downtown in the Brookwood Hills neighborhood. The small structure, built for the Southern Railway in 1918 as a secondary stop for the city, has limited space for passengers, a lack of parking, and poses accessibility challenges to reach its single platform on a lower level.
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