Connecting Georgia: The Case for High-Speed Rail
Imagine traveling from Atlanta to Savannah in only 75 minutes or commuting from Atlanta to Athens in under 30. Imagine never having to drive on state routes 316 or 78 between Atlanta and Athens or I-16 heading to Savannah. To many Georgians, these proposals sound like science fiction. However, by investing in high-speed passenger railways, these seemingly fictitious ideas can become tangible. High-speed passenger railways would connect Georgia’s cities, expand economic opportunities, and broaden healthcare access for millions of Georgians.
For a state as wealthy as Georgia, the state’s intercity connectivity is abysmal. Direct passenger rail from Atlanta to Savannah stopped in 1971, over 50 years ago. Today, the only way to get from Atlanta to Savannah by train is to leave the state altogether. Passengers traveling by rail must take a meandering route from Atlanta to North Carolina and then back down to Savannah.
Georgia is an economic leader in the Southeast. The state boasts one of the highest GDPs in the region, attracted $26.3 billion in investments in 2025, and was named the number one state for business for twelve consecutive years. Governor Kemp himself has declared that he has “built the strongest state economy Georgia has ever seen.” Should a state as prosperous and innovative as Georgia really require its residents to leave the state altogether if they wish to travel by railway to Savannah?
Meanwhile, Georgia’s neighbors are moving forward. Florida’s Brightline high-speed rail connecting Miami and Orlando carried 2.8 million passengers in 2024 and runs hourly departures between the two cities. North Carolina had its highest ridership year in the 32-year history of its intercity rail service, received a $1 billion federal grant for a new high-speed rail corridor, and broke ground on construction. Georgia has not had a direct passenger rail connection between its two largest cities in over half a century.
High-speed passenger rail would not simply move people faster and connect Georgia’s cities; it would fundamentally reshape who has access to opportunity in Georgia. Today, residents of Macon, Dublin, and Augusta are functionally isolated from the economic engines of Atlanta and Savannah. Someone in Macon who lands a job interview in Atlanta faces a two-hour drive each way. A patient in rural middle Georgia who needs a specialist at Emory or Grady faces the same obstacle. For those without reliable vehicles or the money for gas, tolls, and parking, these trips are not feasible.
Nationally, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics has found that rural populations without reasonable access to intercity transportation disproportionately include low-income households. Households earning less than $25,000 make up 17% of rural populations but 24% of those lacking intercity transportation access. Georgia has been among the states hardest hit by losses in intercity bus coverage, with over 500,000 rural residents losing access between 2005 and 2010. High-speed rail would begin to reverse that trend, connecting communities that have been left behind to jobs, healthcare, and education in Georgia’s major cities. Rather than concentrating economic opportunity and healthcare access in Atlanta alone, rail distributes it.
These proposals are not hypothetical. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), is actively studying multiple high-speed rail corridors radiating from Atlanta. The Atlanta-to-Charlotte corridor is the furthest along. This 274-mile route would pass through Athens and reach speeds of up to 220 miles per hour on electric trains, connecting Atlanta to Charlotte in around 2 hours.
Governor Kemp recently acknowledged that Atlanta’s road congestion “doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat behind the wheel” and that traffic “costs the entire state potential economic development projects.” He is right. But the solution cannot be more lanes on the same highways. Georgia needs an alternative, and high-speed passenger rail is the solution.
The question before Georgia’s leaders is not whether high-speed rail would benefit the state–the studies confirm it would. The question is whether Georgia will act while the opportunity exists, or whether, fifty years from now, residents will still be driving four hours to Savannah, wondering why the state that calls itself the best for business never built the infrastructure to prove it.
Ben Brown is a fourth-year at the University of Georgia studying MIS. He is a member of our environment and agriculture group.