The Georgia Department of Transportation is still asking Georgians how they would use a passenger train between Atlanta and Savannah, and the newest question is about money. A survey released this week asks how much metro Atlantans would be willing to pay to reach the coast in as little as two and a half hours without driving or buying gas. GDOT's own test run of the questionnaire took about two minutes to complete, and the survey closes Aug. 6.
That matters downtown because downtown Atlanta is where an intercity rail line would most plausibly land. Amtrak has publicly described intown Atlanta as a strategic location for an intercity rail hub, and in 2024 the operator requested nearly $30 million in federal funding to secure a development site somewhere in the city, at a location it has not disclosed. Amtrak is one of several operators GDOT says it is vetting for cost and feasibility, alongside freight railroads.
The current effort is formally the Atlanta-Savannah Intercity Passenger Rail Project, a $10-million study funded with $8 million awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration in 2023 plus a $2 million match from GDOT. The study began in late 2023 and is meant to produce a Service Development Plan and an Environmental Impact Statement, both targeted for completion in early 2028. Its job is to weigh the benefits and costs of the line, test financial feasibility, and narrow the range of service alternatives.
An earlier round of public engagement in the spring and summer of last year drew more than 20,000 responses. GDOT reported that 53 percent of respondents visit Savannah multiple times a year, some as often as monthly, and that almost none of them are willing to pay to fly. A 2025 survey went further, asking about travel patterns to Athens, Macon and Augusta as well.
The route itself is still open. The study area covers a wide swath of east and southeast Georgia, and GDOT has not settled on an alignment. For 2026 the agency says work is ongoing, including detailed technical analysis, coordination with partners and continued review of potential alternatives.
What the study does not answer is when, or whether, trains would actually run. No construction timeline exists, and no funding source for building or operating the line has been identified. The federal program behind the money is aimed at assembling a national intercity rail network by first advancing projects judged ready for implementation, which means the plan due in 2028 is a qualifying step rather than a start date.
Original reporting: Urbanize Atlanta (2026-07-30)