Economic impact analysis of GDOT short line railroad infrastructure investment in Georgia

Abstract Short line railroads are critical to Georgia's transportation infrastructure and support the efficient movement of goods into and out of the State. Twenty-nine short line railroads operate in Georgia, six of which operate either partially or totally over 596 miles of rail track that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) owns. Based on the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Input-Output Modelling System (RIMS II) backward-linkage model, this study estimates the economic impacts associated with short line railroad revenues and with GDOT infrastructure spending on these six short line systems under different sets of assumptions. Among the economic impacts, and depending on the assumptions, the study finds that cumulatively, the six systems increase annual output in the range of $2.8 - $14.5 million, increase annual earnings in the range of $0.7 - $4.1 million, generate annual value-added in the range of $1.4 - $7.5 million, and annually add 10–93 jobs on average.