By DEBBIE RHYNE
Senior Writer

Members of the University community hoping to use the train for commuting will have a long wait while plans and funding for an Athens-Atlanta rail line continue to move forward,.

Service for an Athens-Atlanta rail line is at least three years away, and trains initially are scheduled to run from Athens to Atlanta only in the morning. This would not allow commuting from the Atlanta area to Athens.

"It doesn’t help the students that much if it only runs one way," said Karen King, a journalism professor who commutes to the University from Gwinnett County. "They’ve got to make it convenient."

But Arthur Vaughn, executive director of the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority, said he is aware of University-oriented traffic and the need to provide commuter service from Atlanta to Athens.

Once the system has established base passengers, a morning train will run from Atlanta to Athens, Vaughn said.

"Although there is a significant student population who commutes to Athens from Atlanta, those numbers were not included in the initial ridership numbers," Vaughn said of the 8,914 people projected to use the rail system in 2010.

But Nathan Burroughs, a graduate student, said he didn’t see that number as enough demand to warrant a train system.

"People like their cars," Burroughs said. "I don’t think there are enough people interested in public transportation to financially support a train."

The state doesn’t expect to make money from passengers but should benefit financially through less air pollution and crowding on roads, Vaughn said.

"There will be a subsidy," Vaughn said. "But as you bring all the rail lines together in a 10- to 20-year cycle, we hope to break even."

A $217 billion transportation bill, which included $8 million for the Athens-Atlanta commuter line, passed the U.S. House on Wednesday.

"We got the funding to begin the opening of the facility for the Athens branch," said Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., who voted for the bill.

Vaughn said a proposed statewide commuter rail system would be in a "good position" with this level of federal funding.

"The funding issue has moved significantly in this federal session thanks to both the state’s House and Senate members," Vaughn said.