Clayton County commuter rail

Clayton County commuter rail
Overview
Status	Replaced by bus rapid transit plans
Locale	Clayton County, Georgia and southeastern Fulton County, Georgia
Termini	East Point Lovejoy
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	MARTA
History
Planned opening	2030 (2030) (to Morrow/Southlake)
Technical
Line length	22 mi (35 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map v t e Legend NS/CSX Concurrency to Atlanta East Point Red Gold CSX Atlanta Terminal Subdivision to Montgomery via Union City I-85 Hapeville I-75 Fulton County Clayton County Mountain View I-285 Forest Park Fort Gillem Clayton State I-75 Morrow/Southlake Jonesboro Lovejoy NS Griffin District to Macon

Clayton County commuter rail was a proposed commuter rail line traversing Clayton County, Georgia and connecting with the MARTA rapid transit system at East Point station. After Clayton County joined the MARTA system in 2014, MARTA began studying alternatives for high-capacity transit through the county. After multiple transit modes were evaluated for passenger transit south of Atlanta, commuter rail was selected as the locally preferred alternative in 2018. Stalled negotiations with the Norfolk Southern Railway, who owns the tracks, caused planning to be put on hold. The project was replaced by a BRT system by the Clayton County Board of Commissioners, the City Councils of Jonesboro, Forest Park, Lovejoy, Riverdale and Lake City, and the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce, MARTA Board of Directors Planning and Capital Programs Committee on November 17, 2022 due to a variety of obstacles with right-of-way acquisition, environmental and historical resource concerns, along with a ballooning cost estimate.^[1]