Federal cash for trains includes promises to plan for Georgia lines

Caption

A high speed Brightline train pulls into the station in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in September. Federal spending could establish similar rail service between Atlanta and Charlotte.

Credit: AP/Marta Lavandier

Billions of dollars in spending for passenger rail announced Friday by the Biden administration includes the possibility of high-speed rail between Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.

$8.2 billion was announced for a number of high-speed rail projects, such as the 500-mile line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, already under construction. Another project receiving over a billion dollars in support is a line from Raleigh, N.C., to Richmond, Va. 

The release of funds this week brings total federal spending by the Biden administration to $30 billion. 

The announcement also listed more corridors which, while not shovel-ready, are on track for potential future investment in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor ID Program. 

That program includes plans for a high-speed line from Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, with possible stops in Athens and Augusta before ending in Charlotte. According to a senior Biden administration official, that project has already cleared a key environmental assessment. 

In other news, touted by Georgia’s Sens. John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a separate press release, a total of $1 million dollars in Federal Infrastructure Law grants will pay for studies into the viability of conventional passenger rail between Chattanooga, Tenn., and Savannah, Ga., with a stop in Macon, 85 miles south of Atlanta.