Amtrak has pinpointed downtown Atlanta as a strategic location for a new intercity rail station, and is asking the federal government for nearly $30 million to secure a site and begin the process of building it.
According to Amtrak's fiscal year 2025 general and legislative annual report, the funding would support property acquisition to preserve future railroad right-of-way and help cover early-phase work such as engineering and environmental clearance under the National Environmental Policy Act. Some of the land Amtrak is eyeing is described in the report as "at imminent risk of development." Exactly where within downtown the hub could land is not yet specified.
The $29.9 million ask could be a fraction of the eventual cost: Amtrak estimates a new Atlanta facility, including new trackage to separate passenger service from freight, would run roughly $700 million once complete.
Atlanta's current Amtrak station was built in 1918 for a much smaller passenger volume, with no parking, no transit connections, an undersized waiting room, and poor accessibility to its single platform. Amtrak has signaled interest in rebuilding Atlanta into a true rail hub with routes fanning out to Charlotte, Nashville, Macon, Montgomery, Birmingham, Savannah, and beyond — today just one line, the New York-to-New Orleans Crescent, serves the city.
In 2022, Atlanta City Council passed a resolution urging Amtrak to consider downtown for the hub, with the Centennial Yards megaproject viewed as a leading site at the time. Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said the company is targeting 66 million annual riders by 2040, more than double pre-pandemic peak ridership.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published June 2024.
