ATLANTA — Amtrak is exploring the possibility of relocating its Atlanta train station to the former GM plant in Doraville, Ga., the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.
Southern Railway built the station in 1918. But Amtrak has been looking for years at relocating the station, which offers no long-term parking and does not have direct access to a MARTA rail line.
In 2011, for example, Amtrak said the station is hindering the railroad’s ability to improve the performance of the one passenger train that serves the city. Officials in the past have also explored relocating the station to nearby Atlantic Station.
“The most significant impediment to improving financial performance, ridership and customer satisfaction on the Crescent route is the limitations of Amtrak’s current Brookwood Station in Atlanta,” the railroad said in the 2011 report.
Norfolk Southern, which operates the rail line on which the station sits, MARTA and the Georgia Department have been a part of discussions, the newspaper report suggests. The Integral Group is currently redeveloping the former 165-acre GM site into Assembly, a live-work-play community.
“We want to be a great partner to both Norfolk Southern and MARTA,” the Atlanta Business Chronicle quoted Eric Pinckney, an executive with The Integral Group, as saying. “We need them to make our development a true multi-modal location and to increase its regional significance.”
