- Georgia Northeastern Railroad
Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Georgia Northeastern Railroad
logo_filename=Gnrr.gif
logo_size=100
old_gauge=
marks=GNRR
locale=Georgia
start_year=1987
end_year=present
hq_city=Marietta, Georgia The Georgia Northeastern Railroad reporting mark|GNRR is ashort line freight railroad which runs from the town of Elizabeth, Georgia (now within Marietta, nearAtlanta ) to the city of Blue Ridge, Georgia. Goods hauled are mostlytimber , grain,poultry , andmarble products. The GNRR'ssubsidiary , theBlue Ridge Scenic Railway , also operates a branch from this line at Blue Ridge.Communities
Communities served by the line are as follows, from north to south (major towns in bold):
*Fannin County, Georgia :
**Blue Ridge, Georgia "(new)"
*Gilmer County, Georgia :
**Cherry Log, Georgia "(new)"
**Ellijay, Georgia
*Pickens County, Georgia :
**Whitestone, Georgia
**Jasper, Georgia
**Tate, Georgia
*Cherokee County, Georgia :
**Ball Ground, Georgia
**Keithsburg, Georgia
**Canton, Georgia
**Holly Springs, Georgia
**Lebanon, Georgia
**Woodstock, Georgia
*Cobb County, Georgia :
**Noonday, Georgia
**Blackwells, Georgia
**West Oak, Georgia
**Elizabeth, Georgia , withinMarietta, Georgia The route has had several names since it was
charter ed in 1854:
*Ellijay Railroad , changing name to:
*Marietta, Canton and Ellijay Railroad , changing name to:
*Marietta and North Georgia Railroad , changing name to:
*Atlanta, Knoxville and Northern Railroad , later purchased by:
*Louisville and Nashville Railroad , later sold to:
*CSX Transportation , later sold to GNRR.Commuter rail
At least one
proposal is also considering using the line forcommuter rail on the lower part of the route, from Canton to Marietta, and possibly along theCSX main route down to Atlanta. Canton, Marietta, and Cobb County put together $40,000 for a study, a draft of which says that it would cost $97 million to upgrade the oldrail track s and addpassenger train station s,train cars andlocomotive s. Another $1.8 million would be needed annually above the intake offare s.The line would be 22 miles or 35 kilometers long from Canton to Elizabeth, where riders could
transfer toCobb Community Transit buses. The draft studyestimate s about 300 people per day would initially ride if it were already in place (600 if it went to Atlanta), and about 1700 would ride in 20 years.The study urges local governments (Cobb and Cherokee counties, and the cities of Marietta, Woodstock, Holly Springs, and Canton) to preserve any areas where a right-of-way may be necessary, allow no new
grade crossing s ofroad s, and preventland development too close to the line (so that new residents cannot complain about it, though it has been there since the 1890s).The
corridor may be in addition toGRTA Xpress or even CCTbus es on the parallelInterstate 575 , which isschedule d to get newHOV lane s soon.External links
* [http://www.gnrr.com GNRR company site]
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