Peachtree station

Atlanta, GA
Exterior of the station, 2022
General information
Location	1688 Peachtree Road, N.W. Atlanta, Georgia United States
Coordinates	33.79938°N 84.39275°W / 33.79938; -84.39275
Owned by	Norfolk Southern Railway
Platforms	1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	MARTA: 110
Construction
Parking	Yes; Paid; Limited
Bicycle facilities	No
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: ATL
History
Opened	March 17, 1918
Passengers
FY 2023	68,319 (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Anniston toward New Orleans Crescent Gainesville toward New York
Former services Preceding station Southern Railway Following station Atlanta Terminal toward Birmingham Main Line Oghethorpe University toward Washington, D.C.
Peachtree Southern Railway Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Architect	Hentz, Reid & Adler
Architectural style	Renaissance
NRHP reference No.	76000628
Added to NRHP	September 14, 1976
Location

Atlanta Peachtree Station is a train station in Atlanta, Georgia. It is currently a service stop for Amtrak's Crescent passenger train. The street address is 1688 Peachtree Road, Northwest, in the Brookwood section of town between Buckhead and Midtown.

Services

Presently, Peachtree Station is served by the Amtrak Crescent route with one train in each direction per day. The southbound #19 arrives at 8:43am and the northbound #20 arrives at 11:00pm.

History

Peachtree Station in Atlanta, Georgia, c. 1974

Designed by architect Neel Reid, it was built in 1918 as a commuter stop on the northside of town for the Southern Railway whose main stop was Terminal Station downtown. The new station was formally named Peachtree Station by Southern; informally it was widely referred to as Brookwood Station. It played a role roughly analogous to Boston's Back Bay station.

Amid a long decline in passenger rail service, Southern closed Terminal Station in 1970 and moved most of its services to the smaller Peachtree Station (though the Nancy Hanks continued to use a makeshift platform and ticket office near Terminal Station until it ended in 1971). That same year, the statue of Samuel Spencer was relocated from Terminal Station to Peachtree station, where it would stay until 1996. When Union Station closed in 1971 with the start of Amtrak, Peachtree Station became the only passenger station in Atlanta still open.

Southern was one of the few major railroads to stay in the passenger business when Amtrak launched. However, the three-decade decline in passenger service culminated in 1975, when Southern cut back service to a single train, what was then the Southern Crescent. It was the first time in Atlanta's railroad history that it was only served by just one train. Southern finally got out of the passenger business in 1979 and turned the Crescent over to Amtrak. Southern then leased Peachtree Station to Amtrak, a lease maintained after Southern merged into Norfolk Southern.

Architecture

The interior waiting room of Amtrak's Peachtree station in Atlanta

Designed in an Italian Renaissance style of architecture, the depot features Palladian windows and classical elements such as pilasters and a molded entablature.

Amtrak passengers often note that the station is small and is elevated far above the tracks, requiring use of a long stairway or elevator. This design reflects the original intent of the station as a suburban stop and the much smaller size of Atlanta at the turn of the 20th century.

The interior of the station underwent an extensive remodeling in preparation for the 1996 Olympics, held in Atlanta.

Possible replacement

For some time, there have been proposals for a new Amtrak station in downtown. In April 2011, the city of Atlanta submitted an application for a grant seeking $22.5 million to relocate the station approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south to Northside Drive and 17th Street, near the multi-use community of Atlantic Station. However, the deal fell through, and the property instead sold to Fuqua Development.

Amtrak's Crescent arrives at Peachtree station in Atlanta

In November 2011, the Georgia Department of Transportation signed a $12.2 million contract with Cousins Properties, The Integral Group, and Forest City Enterprises to develop plans for a new station in The Gulch area near Five Points, close to the former site of the Terminal station. This station is intended to serve as a hub not only for Amtrak, but for MARTA, intercity buses, and the proposed commuter rail lines as well.

Amtrak is continuing to negotiate with MARTA, Norfolk Southern, and the GDOT as it explores options for replacing its facility. Among the options currently under consideration is the site of the former General Motors assembly plant adjacent to the Doraville MARTA station.

See also

• Atlanta Union Station (1930)
• Terminal Station (Atlanta)

External links

Media related to Peachtree (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons

• Atlanta, GA – Amtrak
• Atlanta, GA – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Atlanta Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide – Train Web)
• Peachtree Station (Georgia's Railway History & Heritage)
• Several Photographs of Peachtree Station