GDOT awards Sam Shortline $1.6 million dollar grant
CORDELE, Ga. (WRBL) — The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) awarded $1.6 million to the Southwest Georgia Railroad Excursion Authority (SWGREA) in an effort to improve the SAM Shortline.
The SAM Shortline has been operating for the last 22 years, traveling through destinations like Cordele, Americus and Plains.
The funds will be used towards building a maintenance track at the park.
The cars that Sam Shortline operates have to be maintained at Federal Railroad Administration standards and that is expensive, but made much more expensive when the cars have to leave this facility and go elsewhere to be maintained.
Lee Kinnamon, Chairman of the Southwest Georgia Railroad Excursion Authority
While the SAM excursion train has lasted all these years, the SWGREA chair says it was missing sustainability.
So we will be doing that [maintenance] in-house. We will have not only our own staff here, but contractors in the area who will be able to assist us in providing maintenance on site. This is going to make us sustainable for the long term. So, Georgians can rest assured that we’re using this money judiciously and we’re using it with a purpose.
Lee Kinnamon, Chairman of the Southwest Georgia Railroad Excursion Authority
The train serves as a way to bring tourism to the region, offering people from all over the world a way to sightsee the history in our backyard. Officials say this grant will make all the difference for the local economy in these rural towns.
Some of these towns without this short line would dry up because they need the exposure to the public. They’re rural, right? Congressional District 2 is where the agricultural heartland is. This is where we feed our state and our country. But without eyes on it, it can be forgotten. One of the things President Jimmy Carter wanted to do when he returned to Plains after his service to this country, was to bring relevance to these communities. That’s why the Shortline got started. Knowing now that it will go into the future is just so exciting, because when I when I ride this short line, I didn’t meet people from Georgia. I met people from all over the world that travel shortlines to see America. And this is America at it’s pure essence.”
Cathy Williams, GDOT Congressional District 2 Representative to the Board of Directors
The grant was funded through the Georgia Locomotive Fuel Tax. SWGREA says construction starts in June and will be completed in early 2025, but will not interfere with the shortline’s schedule.
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