On Thursday, consultants presented revised estimates of costs and ridership during a meeting of the Georgia Rail Passenger Program's management team. Increased population reflected in the census bumped up those projected to travel the line between Athens and Atlanta from 1.5 million per year to 2.2 million.

More passengers means adding rail cars and parking spaces at stations. So the planners with Georgia Rail Consultants increased the total cost estimate from $5.2 million to $5.3 million on that line.

The line south from Atlanta was extended in the estimate from Griffin to Macon. The longer line and increased passengers raised the ridership from 548,000 to 1.5 million per year, and the total capital costs rose from $70 million to $250 million.

Dropping the projected fares by one-third would further increase ridership and capital costs. For example, Georgia Rail Consultants use a projected one-way fare of $7.70 from Athens to an unbuilt station near Emory University in Decatur.

Lowering the fare would also increase the amount of subsidy needed to supplement the cost of operations not covered by ticket sales. The estimated annual Athens-Atlanta subsidy would have to rise from $5.3 million to $9.2 million. The Atlanta-Macon subsidy would jump from $6 million to $9.2 million with the lower fare.

Steve Roberts of Georgia Rail Consultants said the subsidy could come from higher gasoline taxes, special purpose local option sales taxes or outright appropriations from some level of government. Each of the 21 rail systems in the country already running gets subsidies from different combinations of sources, he said.

Reach Walter C. Jones at (404) 589-8424.