The Gulch site in Downtown Atlanta has long been viewed as a critical hub for our future transit network, tying together an array of local, regional, and statewide rail and bus services. Following are some of the frequently-asked questions and answers regarding passenger rail at the Gulch and how it relates to the development currently being discussed for the site.

Is there really room for passenger rail at the Gulch alongside a major mixed-use development?

Yes! Decades of work have gone into planning and design for passenger rail at the Gulch, most recently in the early 2010s, when a multi-agency effort led by GDOT – working alongside several private-sector developer partners and a large team of architecture, planning, and engineering consultants – created a detailed development concept for the Gulch anchored by a Multimodal Passenger Terminal (MMPT). The overbuild component is similar in scale to what is currently proposed by CIM Group, with over 11 million square feet of mixed-use development. The integration of the transit component is well-documented, down to the specific configuration of platforms and tracks at the ground level. These documents are still available and remain quite relevant to the effort currently underway.

The Gulch is already next to two MARTA stations. Isn’t that enough?

Not if we want the Gulch and Downtown to be truly accessible by rail transit to a large portion of the Atlanta region. The MARTA rail system provides good access to destinations that generally fall inside I-285, like Midtown, Buckhead, and the Airport. But MARTA’s heavy rail technology is not practical for serving longer distances in many directions. Commuter rail, which operates along existing railroad corridors, provides greater flexibility for serving longer-distance suburban and intercity routes. Atlanta is blessed with an extensive network of railroad corridors, and a comprehensive commuter rail system has been proposed for the region (see map at right).

Many other cities have comparable multi-layered rail networks, with an urban “Metro”-style system (similar to MARTA) serving the core of the region and a commuter rail network connecting outlying suburbs and nearby cities. Such systems include those found in Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia – cities that Atlanta often finds itself in competition with for major economic opportunities like Amazon’s HQ2.

Aren’t the railroad corridors leading into Downtown already at capacity?

This is a valid concern, but it is a solvable one. There are many opportunities to improve rail operations in the urban core, both by alleviating key rail network bottlenecks (e.g. Howell Junction, just north of Downtown) and by adding trackage in strategic locations. Current projects such as the Courtland Street Viaduct replacement, which spans one of the three rail corridors feeding the Gulch, have been thoughtfully designed to allow for future rail capacity expansion. There are also opportunities to relocate freight traffic from the urban core altogether. Many of these projects are discussed in detail in the GDOT State Rail Plan.

Our rail capacity challenges are real and will require careful coordination with the railroads and other stakeholders. But these challenges are well-understood and solvable, and are not a reason to give up on regional rail service in the urban core forever.

Can’t we just build a regional rail hub somewhere else?

There is no other site in the Atlanta region that offers all the advantages of the Gulch – the confluence of three major railroad corridors, a direct connection to MARTA’s largest rail and bus hub, and proximity to the largest concentration of employment and visitor attractions in the state. It is for these reasons the Gulch has always been targeted as the natural site for our primary regional multimodal transit hub.

To be clear, there are other locations that are well-suited as secondary hubs, including East Point on the south side (the likely initial terminus of MARTA’s proposed Clayton commuter rail line) and Armour Yard to the north (where MARTA intersects railroad corridors to Athens and Gainesville). But these locations do not offer all of the strategic advantages of the Gulch, and even with other hubs elsewhere in the region, we will always want future regional and intercity rail to serve Downtown.

We’ve been talking passenger rail Downtown for decades. Why should we suddenly expect it to happen now?

We are at an extraordinary moment for transit in Atlanta. The State of Georgia is finally getting serious about meaningful support for transit. Business interests are recognizing that transit is essential to the region’s and state’s economic competitiveness. The recent formation of the “ATL” provides a proper framework for regional transit coordination and implementation. And after 33 years of being confined to just two counties, MARTA is in expansion mode – first to Clayton, where it is now moving ahead with the region’s first commuter rail line, and potentially to Gwinnett, where a MARTA referendum is scheduled for March 2019.

All of these developments point to an exciting new era for regional transit, and the Gulch – the single most important site for long-term transit expansion in the region – lies at the heart of it all. It would be a terrible mistake to forever close the door on our most significant transit opportunity, just as we are on the cusp of a major breakthrough for transit in Atlanta and Georgia.