Amtrak Passengers Are Desperate For This New Route To Be A Reality

In the last few years, more travelers than ever have been choosing train travel. In 2025, Amtrak carried a record-breaking 34.5 million passengers, the highest ridership the company has seen since its inception in 1971. The recent surge shows that reliable rail service can indeed compete with car and air travel. In fact, Amtrak has been drawing passengers away from air travel with its modernization pushes.

However, Amtrak riders have identified gaps in terms of frequency, speed, and comfort, especially in the rapidly growing cities in the southeastern United States. The Metro Atlanta area, for instance, reached 6.19 million residents in 2024 and continues to see newcomers at a rate of over one percent per year. Charlotte, another up-and-coming southern city, recently became America’s 14th largest city, with a population of over 982,000.

Growth in both cities is expected to continue as companies bring even more job opportunities to the area. However, traffic congestion has become problematic, with more people flocking to the Southeast for work. Atlanta is famous for its heavy traffic, and Charlotte is not far behind. Rising airfares also don’t give travelers many affordable options, which has many wondering why a better train route doesn’t already exist between the two metro areas.

An idea gaining popularity among train enthusiasts is the “Amtrak Spartan.” First proposed on Reddit, the concept introduces four daytime round-trip runs between Atlanta and Charlotte at a top speed of about 90 miles per hour. The good news is that this proposal is no longer just a fantasy. Federal planners have approved funding for their version of the route, offering a preview of what enhanced rail service would look like in the Southeast.

Why Improved Amtrak Service Between Atlanta And Charlotte Is Long Overdue

Currently, the long-distance Crescent route is the only passenger rail option, which leaves Georgia’s vibrant capital city, Atlanta, just before midnight and reaches Charlotte in the early hours of the morning. The train also runs just once per day, providing very few options for daytime commuters.

Atlanta and Charlotte are among the country’s top destinations for relocation due to the introduction of new jobs in tech and finance. Both cities are also home to several universities, including Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, and UNC Charlotte, which bring in an influx of students to the cities each year.

Amid rising populations, highway expansion isn’t happening as quickly as expected. Charlotte’s I-85 widening project, which skeptics say may not even fix the city’s traffic problems, will not be completed until 2030. Similarly, Atlanta’s I-285 project, which will connect the expressway with the MARTA metro system to encourage travelers to use public transportation, won’t be finished until the 2030s. Adding a more frequent train route would remove cars from many of these bottleneck areas.

According to Amtrak’s 2023 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report, riding the train can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 83 percent compared to driving and 73 percent compared to flying. Atlanta and Charlotte are both currently working toward climate goals that focus on lowering greenhouse gas emissions, which aligns with the proposed plan to increase rail service in the region.

How The Proposed “Amtrak Spartan” Could Compete With Car And Plane Travel

The idea behind the “Amtrak Spartan” route, proposed by a Reddit user, builds upon the existing 30-hour Crescent route, which runs between New York and New Orleans. According to Redditor ColonialCobalt, the new route would use Airo trainsets, which can reach up to 125 miles per hour on dedicated tracks.

The actual speed would peak at a more realistic 90 miles per hour on this improved route, but it would still be a welcome change for those frustrated with the Crescent’s current 40-mile-per-hour operating speed.

“I recently took Crescent #20 northbound on two separate occasions, once from TCL-ATL and later from TCL-PHL. Both times, I noticed that while the trains approached TCL from the west at a high rate of speed (often hitting 70+ mph according to Amtraker), as soon as they departed eastward, we seemed to be capped much lower. We rarely exceeded 50mph heading through ATN, and then between ATN and ATL, we often were crawling along at just 30mph,” wrote one Redditor.

With four round trips scheduled throughout the day instead of one, travelers would have more flexibility if the Spartan route were to take effect. The current run time between Atlanta and Charlotte is about five hours and 37 minutes.

With faster trains and track upgrades, passengers could reach Charlotte in around three hours, give or take. This would be much faster than driving, which often takes four hours or more with traffic. It also beats flying, which takes about an hour and 20 minutes, but usually requires arriving at the airport hours in advance.

Train Enthusiasts Liked The Idea Of An Improved Atlanta To Charlotte Route

Many commenters on the Reddit post agreed that the existing options between Atlanta and Charlotte don’t meet the current demand. Given the significant population growth, they felt that faster, more frequent service would be helpful. Several users also suggested that, instead of stopping in Charlotte, the line should connect to more of North Carolina’s growing cities, like Durham, North Carolina’s foodie and cultural hub, and Raleigh.

With major airports at both ends of the line, this extension could encourage more travelers to ditch the car and air travel along the south-east corridor.

Lawmakers Are Progressing On A New High-Speed Rail Line Mirroring “Spartan”

The idea of faster, more frequent rail service between Atlanta and Charlotte isn’t just popular on Reddit. Both Georgia and North Carolina have begun taking steps to plan a modernized high-speed rail corridor through the Corridor Identification and Development (CID) Program.

While there is no officially authorized “Spartan” Amtrak project, it closely mirrors ongoing government initiatives. The official Atlanta-to-Charlotte Passenger Rail Corridor Investment Plan (PRCIP) is a federally approved plan to build a high-speed rail line connecting the Atlanta and Charlotte regions, aiming to capture over six million riders annually by 2050.

The Atlanta-to-Charlotte corridor is a southern segment of the Southeast High-Speed Rail (SEHSR) Corridor, which is planned to link Atlanta directly to Washington, D.C., and farther Northeast.

Atlanta-to-Charlotte Passenger Rail Corridor Investment Plan

Aiming to connect major downtowns with international airports, the route will go through Charlotte and Gastonia in North Carolina, Greenville and Anderson in South Carolina, and Athens, Suwanee, Doraville, and Atlanta in Georgia, terminating at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Currently, the project is using federal seed money provided via the FRA Corridor ID Program to finalize the scope, schedule, and cost estimates for a Service Development Plan.