Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
September 6, 2000, Wednesday, Home Edition
SECTION: Metro News; Pg. 3B
LENGTH: 662 words
HEADLINE:
The Lane Ranger;
Rail service still a long way down the line
BYLINE: Joey Ledford, Staff
SOURCE: CONSTITUTION
BODY:
If Atlanta's transportation future is to include commuter
rail, some very difficult hurdles have to be cleared to get passenger trains to
share the rails with slow-moving freight trains.
In
fact, to date, state transportation officials don't have clearance to put a
single train on the tracks.
"I'm very concerned about this," said
Catherine Ross, executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation
Authority, which will be a major player in any future commuter
rail program. "We are in the process of having initial discussions with (the
railroads)." Perhaps the biggest question is whether the existing rail network
can handle the additional traffic.
"A lot of these corridors are already
operating beyond capacity --- by their perspective," said Ross, referring to the
railroads.
Mike Irvin, assistant superintendent with Norfolk Southern
Corp., said another major hurdle is the condition of what he called the "old
beltline." That's the intown rails owned by both Norfolk Southern and CSX that
are essential to running trains into Atlanta to a proposed multimodal station
near Five Points.
"To make it work with the traffic we run and CSX runs,
we'd have to upgrade those beltlines to bypass the freight," he said. "The
state's doing studies on this. It may well take some more track being lain
through Atlanta."
Under existing conditions, Irvin said, "we may not be
able to do it. Both railroads would have to change and do certain things so it
can work."
Norfolk Southern runs between 80 and 90 freight trains a day
through Atlanta. CSX runs a similar number.
Freight trains by definition
run at slower speeds than passenger trains. Commuters would not ride a train
that moves slower than a car.
"You need high speed," said Danny Gilbert,
Norfolk Southern's safety manager for grade crossings in Georgia and 21 other
states. "You're going to have more collisions (between trains and cars) unless
you eliminate grade crossings."
That can be expensive and
time-consuming.
"If the crossings stay the way they are," said Gilbert,
"I think you're making a mistake to have passenger service."
Gilbert
worked closely with officials in North Carolina, which offers passenger rail
service linking Charlotte and Raleigh on Amtrak. Currently, that three-hour trip
covers about 200 miles.
"They want to drop it to two hours and
something, and they want to run higher speeds," said Gilbert. "The higher the
speed, the more you have to have elevation of track."
Freight trains
don't run at 79 mph or higher, which is the goal for a successful passenger
train. And freight trains don't need tracks updated for high speeds, so that
creates compatibility problems if you plan to use the same rails.
Georgia railways have hundreds of private grade crossings that are
unprotected by gates and bells. Put substantial numbers of high-speed trains
through those crossings and the potential for disaster is great.
"How
are we going to protect the guy who uses that private crossing?" asked Gilbert.
Irvin said one of the biggest barriers to passenger rail is the mindset
of today's commuters.
"It's not going to be cost effective," he said.
"People don't want to give their cars up."
Metro Atlantans will
eventually have to begin thinking like commuters in the Northeast corridor,
which is passenger rail's success story.
"The people in the South will
have to have the same mindset as the people in the Northeast," said Irvin. "They
know there's not enough roads or places to park and they have to take a train."
Ross said Amtrak might be part of Atlanta's passenger rail solution.
"We could make a decision to let Amtrak" operate the Georgia commuter
rails, she said.
But how do you persuade the railroads to share the
rails? Ross said the problem can be solved.
"There are other things we
can put on the table," she said, throwing out a hypothetical. "Maybe we could
build them a rail yard."
e-mail: traffic@ajc.com
LOAD-DATE: September 6, 2000 
