ATLANTA MAYOR Kasim Reed recently said that he likes the idea of jumping on a high-speed train and being whisked to Savannah in a mere 75 minutes.
Who wouldn’t?
The four-hour drive between Atlanta and the coast is mind-numbing, particularly the long stretch on I-16 between Savannah and Macon. Hopping on a commercial airliner is much faster. But a round-trip ticket is far more expensive than two tanks of gasoline.
That leaves the train — an option that’s no longer available for Savannah-to-Atlanta travelers, thanks to the demise of the Nancy Hanks passenger train decades ago.
Mr. Reed’s futuristic dream is a nice one. The mayor is excellent team player who is on record supporting Savannah’s port deepening project, and he should be praised for supporting more regional links and growth opportunities.
But high-speed rail comes with considerable baggage. It’s hugely expensive. Conventional wisdom has shown that it makes the most economic sense in densely populated areas, like the Northeast, where traveling on traffic-clogged roads is a nightmare.
True, Atlanta’s traffic problem is one of the worst in the nation. But investing billions of limited dollars to quickly move a relatively small number of Georgia travelers to and from the coast delivers a limited bang for the buck. It doesn’t help large numbers of everyday commuters stuck in traffic jams on I-285 — or, closer to home, on DeRenne Avenue, Abercorn Extension or I-16 during the morning and afternoon rush hours.
In fact, a majority of Georgians in this region and in Atlanta recently voted down a sales tax hike to improve transportation. Getting political support to fund a high-speed train would be difficult.
President Obama’s grand, hugely expensive plan for high-speed rail nationwide doesn’t include a line between Atlanta and Savannah. But earlier this year, a private consultant working for the Georgia State Board of Transportation presented a report that a line that links Savannah to Atlanta and Jacksonville, Fla., is economically feasible. Possible stops in for that train in Georgia would include Griffin, just south of Atlanta, and Macon.
Those talks remain in the conceptual stage. Construction of any rail lines in the state would be years into the future — if ever.
A big unknown is how many passengers would buy tickets to support the daily runs.
The company that did this report for the state, HNTB, speculated that the cost of one round-trip ticket between Atlanta and Jacksonville (fares between Atlanta and Savannah weren’t mentioned) ranged from $238 and $304. If you’re taking your family to Atlanta to catch a Braves game or visit relatives, that’s pretty steep.
Fortunately, it doesn’t cost anything to dream big.
Mr. Reed said he started to focus on a high-speed train between Atlanta and Savannah when a server in one of his favorite restaurants complained that Atlanta was too far from the coast.
“We can create a trail of prosperity between those two regions,” Reed said last week during a talk at the Commerce Club in Atlanta. “We stand here on the precipice of great things ... We can’t be afraid of doing large things.”
He’s right. Creating prosperity that’s mutually beneficial to Savannah and Atlanta, as well as to the rest of Georgia, is in the public’s interest. Port expansion is the perfect example.
But for now, Mr. Reed’s dream doesn’t stand up to the cold splash of fiscal and political realities.
High-speed rail is loaded with pitfalls. Until these problems can be satisfactorily addressed, this is an idea whose time has not come.