The ATLTRAINS Regional Rail Vision at a Glance
All Day
Bidirectional Service
11
Regional Rail Lines
90
New
Stations
300+
Miles of Guideway
97%
On Existing Railroads
With 11 lines and 90 proposed stations, ATL Trains is a vision for a Comprehensive, Connected, Financially Feasible regional rail system for the entire Atlanta Region and its 5+ million residents, and it leverages much of our existing freight rail network to make it happen.
Comprehensive - With over 300 miles of regional rail serving all 12 Atlanta-Region counties that have a freight rail presence, ATL Trains would comprehensively expand the reach of our rail transit network six times over, supporting unprecedented regional mobility for people in counties both large and small.
Connected - Whether travelling a couple of stops or across the Region, ATL Trains is designed to get you there. ATL Trains is strategically positioned to connect many of the Region's activity centers, schools, and historic downtown areas directly, as well as to facilitate transfers into the MARTA Rail System and anchor our multimodal transit network.
Financially Feasible - ATL Trains provides virtually all of the benefits of MARTA Rail for a cost much similar to that of BRT. By leveraging our existing freight rail rights-of-way and investing in the expansion of current freight infrastructure, ATL Trains cuts capital costs by up to 80% per mile compared to those associated with MARTA Rail or Light Rail expansion.
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Thanks for visiting and happy exploring!
---Caleb Stubbs
Explore The ATL Trains Concept Design
The ATL Trains Vision is not just lines on a map. Instead, it is a technically driven, visionary regional rail system with a detailed concept design to match. As you explore the full concept design below, notice how the ATL Trains System could fit almost entirely within existing railroad and public rights-of-way, dramatically expand track capacity, and anchor a truly regional transit network across Metro Atlanta.
Explore and Navigate the Full ATL Trains Concept Design Below or at the following link.
Is there any social media associated with this campaign?
I think something that should be integrated with this plan is a high quality revamped bus network that serves as a East-West connector, and a link to the rapidly developing GA 400 corridor area. BRT from North Springs to Windward is included in the current Express lane project (4.9 billion dollars dear god how the hell do roads get so much money.) But as a North Georgia resident, most of day to day trips and traffic on the 400 corridor are actually East/West, not to mention MARTA is sparse and unreliable across the entire area. Not even mentioning Forsyth, where there is 0 scheduled transit service, despite having giant mixed use and medium density developments flooding in. Meaning that this corridor is not actually helpful without an East West connection, and with the ATL TRAINS program, it gives an incredible opportunity for a potential solution to that problem. I think there should be 2 North-Crossing high frequency regional bus lines, wich use BRT infrastructure built in cities along their paths. Allowing for good transit access and incentive to build up local networks in places not serviced by the ATL TRAINS rail network. North Cross Rapid 1: Gwinnett Place - (Duluth) - (Marietta) | Primarily Via: State route 120 Major stops: Avalon, Johns Creek, Alphretta, Roswell downtown, East cobb, Gas South arena, Sugarloaf Mills, Gwinnett Technical College BRT Potential: Gwinnett Place - (Duluth) | Roswell Downtown | I-75 & Roswell Rd - (Marietta) North Cross Rapid 2: Mall of GA - (Sugar Hill) - Cumming - *Less frequent to: (Canton) | Primarily Via: State route 20
Major stops: Mall of GA, Sugar Hill Downtown, sr20 & Suwanee dam, sr20& Ronald Regan Blvd, Cumming City Center, BRT Potential: Mall of GA - (Sugar Hill) | sr20 & - sr400 Cumming city center These 2 routes will ignite density and spawn local high quality BRT networks if built correctly. And for anyone in my area, I recommend we fight for a system like this alongside ATL TRAINS, and improve ALL of Atlanta's transit.
Layout mirrors the freeways which don't provide East-West Northern suburb movement. Downtown is not a central jobs hub for the metro area but all of your rail lines imply that's where people need to go to, and it isn't.
It is a great concept, but it would be interesting to see how this project could lay out the framework for Atlanta's intercity rail as well. I could see Delta using this as a way to expand its use of Hartsfield-Jackson since it would make getting to the airport easy and let it free up planes to fly further distances. Georgia DOT is studying an Atlanta to Charlotte route and an Atlanta to Savannah route; I can see the South Gwinnett and Henry Lines slotting in as providing some of the infrastructure to support those routes.
Also, while it seems a little far, maybe the South Gwinnett route should be extended to Athens since the University of Georgia would be a massive trip generator. Also, combined with intercity rail, Athens would be a better stop for people to switch to local trains if they live in Eastern Atlanta.
Great work with this! I love the vision as someone who's passionate about regional rail and utilizing existing heavy rail corridors in lots of our cities.
Question -- just north of Atlanta Central, you marked a freight-exclusive corridor parallel to a passenger-exclusive corridor. Why are these not swapped? Is the idea to decommission Peachtree Station since that's on your freight-exclusive line? I had imagined that this would serve as an auxiliary hub outside of ATL Central where Amtrak and regional trains would make stops.
Cheers from the Twin Cities!
Radical thought, maybe we as Metro Atlanta Rail Enthusiasts should consider approaching Brightline. Brightline Atlanta. Brightline to Charlotte on exsisting tracks initially. Likely much faster concept to 1st Train movement.
Awesome Thesis couple with a living evolving website. Can we try for an small victory first. I would like this group to advocate for an additional daily train service originating in Atlanta and Terminating at Washington Union Station. Keeping things simple , using existing tracks and the existing station. Two rail sets totaling 5 Passengers Cars and 1 Cafe Car. Work with Norfolk Southern for the additional Right of Way. Engage Marta to expand service connections that coincide with train departures and arrival.
Work with ATL Airport to Connect Current Amtrak Station to Hartsfield-Jackson.
Collaborate with Marta, Greyhound and Megabus to connect Amtrak Passengers regionally Bus Heavy Rail.
Brand the Service: Amtrak Peach 🍑 Tree Service.
All about the connections Play up the rail connections from Atlanta Airport to Charlotte Airport.
Work it Groome shuttle to add daily trips from Amtrak Atlanta to Athens Georgia amd Columbus Georgia
Negotiate with Masonic Temple adjacent to existing station for 25 short term parking spaces
Upgrade current passenger station with platform level with current train sets.
Repurpose fleet currently being phased out for new modern train sets
Why do you not include Newton County? Covington is a suburb of Atlanta and Newton County has a big population as well for the East Metro.
We need to pressure our state and local government to see this plan come to fruition. This would be an absolute win for the Atlanta area
As a huge fan of public transportation and trains, this idea and its well thought out plan makes me giddy with excitement. I think that this would be a major economic benefit to the Atlanta Metro, and I really hope your plan is brought to fruition. I feel like there are so many cities in the South that would benefit from a similar project: Jacksonville, Charlotte, Tampa, Nashville, and Birmingham come to mind. As a Jacksonville-based resident, I have long contemplated and designed fantasy systems for Light Rail, Trolleys, and Commuter rail for the area, but our leaders don't want to move quickly enough. We have one commuter rail project that's still in early development, but we likely won't receive the first trains until 2029... I hope that ATL Trains gets moving quicker than ours.
Best of luck!