In a followup post, I gave a little more background about the long-range vision for HSR.

Walter Jones of Morris News Service has now written Bill would set up study of Atlanta-Savannah rail line. From that piece:

A Savannah legislator is pushing a bill that would create a committee to study the viability of a high-speed rail line between Atlanta and the coast.

Rep. Craig Gordon, D-Savannah, said he hopes to get support from the mayors of Atlanta, Macon and Savannah. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has often advocated for a line to link the cities as a way for Atlanta to exploit the expanded cargo expected to move through the Port of Savannah with the deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel.

Gordon said the rail line would capitalize on the federal and state funds going into the deepening project.

It’s an interesting piece, in which Gordon notes a significant Republican co-sponsor.

But it’s also worth noting that there’s something of a muddle here.

When talking about HSR, we’re usually focusing on moving people, not cargo. While there are express deliveries that might take advantage of HSR, most cargo can move on the slower lines just fine. HSR is largely about connecting people, ideas, and human capital, while minimizing time wasted on highway travel.

Kasim Reed’s comments on HSR have always implied that he’s talking about people, not cargo. So it’s a little hard to mesh those ideas with Gordon’s desire to leverage port expansion money (if any materializes).

For more on the cargo vs. people need, check out this interesting discussion in Pacific Standard magazine about the different priorities in Europe and the U.S. From that article:

Where freight and high-speed passenger trains use the same track, of course, they donâ€t mix well, for the same reason that a Porsche on the highway canâ€t move fast if it gets stuck behind a semi. So The Economist last year argued that more high-speed rail in America could actually harm the U.S. rail-cargo network, which it described as “one of the unsung transport successes of the past 30 years … universally recognized in the industry as the best in the world.”

There wonâ€t be a problem on new and largely dedicated high-speed lines like the one planned for California. But it will get complicated on the not-quite-as-high-speed, “inter-city” passenger lines planned for the Pacific Northwest and Midwestern cities around Chicago.

Right now, American cargo trains can move flexibly, sometimes without a strict time schedule, according to customer demand. If they share the rails with too many passenger trains, theyâ€ll need to be more strictly organized, with expensive new train-control systems.

So maybe all we can hope for this year is for Georgians, including legislators and the press, to get a better handle on the specific issues inherent with various proposals.

Still, let’s keep steaming ahead.

The two cities are more than 200 miles apart, and there are a few significant cities in between.But anyone who has traveled that long stretch of I-16 from Atlanta to the Georgia coast knows that much of that country is lightly populated.

Despite the disparity in size of the two cities, the advantages of high speed rail travel are pretty obvious. Atlantans could get fast and reasonably inexpensive access to a major tourist destination, while Savannahians would have much easier access to one of the nation’s most important metro areas. The possibilities for business generally and for the creative economy specifically are tremendous. There would be massive benefits to the state’s economy.

To those who say government shouldn’t get involved in rail projects, I’ve got a pretty simple response: The state’s political leaders are pushing a $652 million, government-funded dredging of the Savannah River under the assumption that it will boost commerce in the state. We also expect governments to fund road expansions, repairs, and construction. If you agree that that those are proper roles for government, then it gets difficult to argue against rail.

Anyway, the Savannah Morning News today is re-running Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed dreams of high-speed rail to Savannah; Another decade, another dream by Maria Saporta from the Saporta Report over the weekend. From that piece:

In the past several weeks, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has been floating a grand new vision for Georgia — connecting Atlanta and Savannah with high-speed rail.

“We can create a trail of prosperity between those two regions,” Reed said last week during a talk at the Commerce Club. […]

But if Atlanta and Savannah were connected by a modern-day, high-speed train going an average of 200 miles an hour, the coast would be within a 75-minute ride from Atlanta.

Such a train would change the complexion of Georgia — from two Georgias with two different economies to a state with a transportation infrastructure that could help reinforce the notion of Georgia becoming “the logistics hub of the Western hemisphere” in the 21st Century.

High speed rail seems certain to be in America’s future. The corridors designated by the Federal Railroad Administration include both Atlanta and Savannah, but without a direct connection between them.

Even if a rail line linking Savannah and Atlanta is many years or even decades away, now seems a pretty good time to get behind it.

From the Federal Railroad Administration

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed says heâ€s staying — not joining Obama administration

Although there has been rampant speculation that Reed would be offered a position in the Obama administration, apparently that is not in the cards.

“Heâ€s been pretty clear on that,” said Sonji Jacobs, who heads communications for the mayor. “He is running for re-election, and he wants to be mayor for second term.”

The mayor also reaffirmed his commitment to explore light rail opportunities for the Atlanta BeltLine despite the defeat of the regional transportation sales tax on July 31.

Reed even went further than that. He said he will be working to get a high speed rail link between Atlanta and Savannah so that the trip could be done in just one hour.

Reed expended a lot of political capital in recent months in his support of President Obama’s re-election. Obama was also generally supported in urban centers generally and had a solid win for the second time here in Savannah.

There’s already a passenger rail study up and running at Armstrong.

Imagine the exchange of human capital, ideas, and commerce that would be possible if we had HSR between Savannah and Atlanta. The cultural opportunities would be endless.

Sure, it would be expensive, but Georgia is hoping to have $652 million to expand the port of Savannah and — at the same time — hundreds of millions more on road construction to accommodate movement of goods (including cheap imports).

A similar investment in moving people would be a worthy investment.

This is one post I’ll be following up on.