They'll have a long day and full itinerary during their ''fact-gathering trip,'' said Mark Gibbons, Mayor Bob Young's administrative assistant.

One item on the agenda will be looking at areas downtown where a train station could be built.

Local officials have pointed to a block near Hale and Fourth streets as a potential site.

A train terminal here would be a multi-use station to house buses and taxi cabs - similar to one being built in Athens.

The Amtrak representatives also will tour Fort Gordon, meet with both Norfolk Southern railroad and Department of Transportation officials and take a helicopter ride from Augusta to Columbia for aerial views of the tracks.

Mr. Young announced in March that the four representatives were interested enough in Augusta to visit the city and gather research.

Since then, the mayor has been urging residents to prepare for today's meeting by writing letters of support for passenger rail service. His office received about 600 letters to hand over to the visitors.

''The support has been great,'' Mr. Gibbons said. ''This really shows that Augusta is interested in Amtrak. Hopefully, we can show (today) that this warrants a rail line and a passenger train.''

Although the Garden City was left out of Amtrak's long-term network plan for the Southeast, the mayor has said Augusta is in a strong position to change the company's mind.

Several other cities in the Southeast, including Macon; Savannah; Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus, Ga.; and Spartanburg, S.C., have Amtrak service or are included in the company's expansion plans.

''We're very positive about the way we've positioned the city,'' Mr. Young said. ''The one thing we don't want to do is get our expectations too high. We don't know what Amtrak's going to do.''

Reach Vicky Eckenrode at (706) 823-3227.