High Speed Rail: Atlanta to Savannah

GA HR 306 creates a new passenger train agency and GA HR 174 authorizes a legislator study committee looking into the feasibility of building a light rail from Atlanta to Savannah.  Light rail is the most expansive option we have

It’s 250 miles to drive from Atlanta to Savannah GA.  

By car, In a Toyota Prius, @ 50mpg, it would take 5 gallons of gasoline to go one way, or 10 gallons round trip.  At $3.50 per gallon, his would cost $35 roundtrip. Travel time is about 5 hours. You are safe and can stop any time you want. This is the best way to go.

By bus, in a Greyhound bus the fare is $59 from Atlanta to Savannah, about $120 round trip and takes 5 hours.  If you don’t mind he hassle with how to get around without your car once you’ve arrived, this is the second best way to go.

By air, it’s 215 miles to fly from Atlanta to Savannah GA.  You will experience the latest indignities from the TSA.  Air fare is $251 to $302 round trip with one stop at Charlotte NC, total time each way is 3 hrs 20 min. This is the third best way to go.

By Amtrack, it’s $161.50, one way  from Atlanta to Savannah GA. The actual cost is subsidized 100%.  The federal government $1 billion a year from your gasoline tax dollars.  A round trip would cost you $323. Trip time is 6 hours and 41 minutes,  This is the fourth best way to go.

High speed rail costs over $100 million per mile to construct; for 250 miles, that’s $25 billion dollars plus maintenance and operations.  For just the $25 billion, we could provide round-trip air fare at $300 for 83 million passengers.  If 100 passengers a day make this trip, the 36,500 trips a year would cost about $11 million a year.   They would have free airline tickets for the next  2,273 years.  This is just nuts.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader