The ATLTRAINS Regional Rail Vision at a Glance
All Day
Bidirectional Service
11
Regional Rail Lines
90
New
Stations
300+
Miles of Guideway
97%
On Existing Railroads
With 11 lines and 90 proposed stations, ATL Trains is a vision for a Comprehensive, Connected, Financially Feasible regional rail system for the entire Atlanta Region and its 5+ million residents, and it leverages much of our existing freight rail network to make it happen.
Comprehensive - With over 300 miles of regional rail serving all 12 Atlanta-Region counties that have a freight rail presence, ATL Trains would comprehensively expand the reach of our rail transit network six times over, supporting unprecedented regional mobility for people in counties both large and small.
Connected - Whether travelling a couple of stops or across the Region, ATL Trains is designed to get you there. ATL Trains is strategically positioned to connect many of the Region's activity centers, schools, and historic downtown areas directly, as well as to facilitate transfers into the MARTA Rail System and anchor our multimodal transit network.
Financially Feasible - ATL Trains provides virtually all of the benefits of MARTA Rail for a cost much similar to that of BRT. By leveraging our existing freight rail rights-of-way and investing in the expansion of current freight infrastructure, ATL Trains cuts capital costs by up to 80% per mile compared to those associated with MARTA Rail or Light Rail expansion.
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Thanks for visiting and happy exploring!
---Caleb Stubbs
Explore The ATL Trains Concept Design
The ATL Trains Vision is not just lines on a map. Instead, it is a technically driven, visionary regional rail system with a detailed concept design to match. As you explore the full concept design below, notice how the ATL Trains System could fit almost entirely within existing railroad and public rights-of-way, dramatically expand track capacity, and anchor a truly regional transit network across Metro Atlanta.
Explore and Navigate the Full ATL Trains Concept Design Below or at the following link.
We need to pressure our state and local government to see this plan come to fruition. This would be an absolute win for the Atlanta area
As a huge fan of public transportation and trains, this idea and its well thought out plan makes me giddy with excitement. I think that this would be a major economic benefit to the Atlanta Metro, and I really hope your plan is brought to fruition. I feel like there are so many cities in the South that would benefit from a similar project: Jacksonville, Charlotte, Tampa, Nashville, and Birmingham come to mind. As a Jacksonville-based resident, I have long contemplated and designed fantasy systems for Light Rail, Trolleys, and Commuter rail for the area, but our leaders don't want to move quickly enough. We have one commuter rail project that's still in early development, but we likely won't receive the first trains until 2029... I hope that ATL Trains gets moving quicker than ours.
Best of luck!
I love this work, it is absolutely fantastic. It is a very creative vision that like the London overground takes under utilised rail corridors and helps turn them into a core part of the public transport system.
However, I think the limited capacity of the three track mainline through the city will be damaging to its long term success. In that; merging 11 branches into one two track mainline only allows for up to 30 trains an hour, but the practical capacity due to all of the merging would be more in the realm of 24 tph. This is a fantastic frequency if you are in the core of the system, in fact it is right up there with the Elizabeth Line. However, if you live on the edge at or near the end of the line the 30 minute peak or 60 minute off-peak service is not very compelling. This may crimp ridership in the long term if not addressed initially. The gold standard would be to have a 5 track passenger only mainline running through the core, with 4 tracks for ATL Trains and a centre for Amtrak intercity services. This would allow peak hour service of at least every 15 minutes on all branches and off-peak service of every 20 or 30 minutes.
While this is ideal there are other ways to accomplish this more cheaply. The first is to combine and split trains on the more branched northern routes. For instance, in the morning peak at Austell, a 4-car Multiple Unit may arrive from Dallas and couple to another 4-car multiple unit from Villa Rica West Douglas. Modern Schaufernberg couplers can mean this only takes seconds to do, this means that the branches can have double the service without impacting track capacity on the core. This also reduces the drivers hours required per revenue mile. This could require longer platforms (200m/670 feet) on the core of the network, to run longer trains to avoid overcrowding. A service every 30 minutes off-peak and every 15 minutes peak is far more compelling than one at half the frequency.
If the above was not possible or in conjunction with it, implementing CBTC (Communications based train control) rather than CTC on the core of the network from Bolton-Moore Mills to Atlanta Airport East/West would allow more frequent service, up to 40 trains per hour, this could enable peak service of up to every 20 minutes on all branches and off-peak service around every 40 minutes.
If both solutions were implemented services could be run every 10 minutes on all branches in the peak without the need for a 4-track core through the city.
Hope this helps.
All the best I would love to see this project implemented!
I would love to see more connectivity in the neighborhoods folks go to for restaurants/bars/venues such as EAV/Edgewood/L5P, but a very exciting and well thought out plan for the necessity of expanded transit in the city. Let's see if we can get NFS and CSX on board, and hopefully we will see a reality like this in the future.
This is not a little rinky-dink idea, this plan is vivid and detailed. Metro-Atlanta leaders are buffoons if they don't push for this and get behind it. Well done Caleb. I'm going to speak this into this existence that this plan will come to fruition.
Have you shared your vision with Brightline? In my opinion for this to have any shot in GA we will have to go the private route. Brightline has the capitol to get this done in GA.
Love this idea, if it ever gets realized it will transform Atlanta to becoming one of the most influential regions in the US. Just wish there was a station for GA Tech between Atlanta Central and Centennial. Also think the network design should be in the form of the type F network diagram seen in the image attached in order to enhance through-running capacity and frequency as well as connectivity throughout the region.
I think it's important to address accessibility and considering fully step-free accessibility on every station across the network, which is a feature across London's Elizabeth Line and Tube lines as well as platform screen-doors on every underground station as a great safety and equity measure. Level-boarding and standardized digital wayfinding signage and screens would also be crucial for the success of this regional rail network. Would be nice if you could write about it as a potential standardized feature throughout this system, that would appeal a lot to commuters who are in need of extra mobility assistance such as wheelchairs, walkers and strollers but also those who are interested in station design and wayfinding.
Celebrating in Atlanta: City of Peace.
Hello Caleb. "THREE CHEERS" to your vision for a brighter future! I join with other to say "CONGRATS" to your work, and also ask "How may I assist in development of your new urban pattern?" It's easy for me to see you as a new era Bucky Fuller (his work was referenced in the 1968 edition of GA Tech Alumni mag).
Although I will never fight to support you and/or what you aspire to do (because that would imply the need for, or use of weapons and violence), I will however, do something better. I will figuratively work in the garden with you, so to speak, and use tools like rakes, trowels, hoses, buckets, shovels, fertilizers, insecticides, and pickers to help you prepare for an abundant harvest for the Beloved Community.
Success with ATLtrains will bring new degrees of peace and healing to metro Atlanta (much needed). Not enough people know that horrible traffic is a serious health threat to everyone. Did you know that more spousal abuse, child abuse and pet abuse occurs in the suburbs because so many grownups get stressed the more they LIVE in traffic daily?
When one gets their annual Car Emmissions, at the top of that document is the estimated amount of commuter miles metro Atlantans drive daily. Currently it amounts to more than 128,000,000 miles daily which is greater that the distance from the Earth to the Sun; DAILY.
And then there is the pollution issue. The USA exported the auto-addiction to "developing nations" like China & India. Since 'Developed Nations' like the USA are setting such a bad example, then what does the future hold?
How about we partner to bring greater hope to Atlanta: City of Peace, Georgia: The Peace State, the USA and World?
Caleb, will you sign our petition and help us 'win' with our initiative?
"All Aboard the Peace Train"
www.ATLpeaceTrain.net
Peace in...
ALL,
John R. Naugle
President & CEO - ATLANTA: City of Peace, Inc. (ACP)
Board of Directors- The Gandhi Foundation of USA (GFUSA)
please create a mailing list so we can keep up-to-date with your progress.