Andrews Raid showed importance of railroads

ATLANTA — MARTA Board of Directors urged Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson to call a special session to “deal with” transportation and MARTA funding issues. During their 2009 General Assembly, state legislators did not to pass what MARTA officials call “critical legislation providing regional or state transportation funding and lifting restrictions on the use of MARTA’s capital reserve funds,” MARTA contends. The Georgia General Assembly ended April 3, and during this year’s legislative session, MARTA officials petitioned state lawmakers to grant the authority access to $65 million in its capital reserve account to

Georgia plans to spend about $10 million to upgrade state-owned rail lines to Class II standards, which officials said would better integrate the lines with the national rail network and allow faster speeds.

Cities with direct rail access from the airport to and from downtown receive nearly 11 percent more revenue per room than hotels in cities without such a connection, according to a report from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and the U.S. Travel Association. The study, A New Partnership: Rail Transit and Convention Growth, shows higher revenue per room translates to a potential $313 million in revenue per year for so-called “rail cities.” In the post-recession period, rail cities commanded 16 percent higher revenue per room than hotels in non-rail cities, the organizations said. “Clearly investment in local rail systems