MACON, Ga. -- A bond issue recently approved by the Georgia Department of Transportation will provide about half the funds needed to start passenger rail service between Macon and Atlanta, the Macon Telegraph reports.

Officials say the money could bring commuter trains into town as soon as 2006 and have Amtrak stopping by even sooner.

At a Jekyll Island meeting May 16, the Georgia Department of Transportation approved borrowing $151 million to pay for engineering and right-of-way work on the Macon-Atlanta rail line, as well as an intermodal transportation station at the Atlanta end, said Doug Alexander, rail manager for the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority.

"I think, for sure, it's cause for being optimistic," said state Sen. Robert Brown, D-Macon, who fought unsuccessfully to have $12 million included in the state budget to start work on the rail project. "It is a reason to be rejoiceful."

Macon Mayor Jack Ellis said he knew that transportation bonds were going to be issued, but he hadn't heard the amount going to the rail project.

"I know the governor has been leading on this issue," Ellis said. "It's definitely good news, and it makes sense."

Brown said the bond issue will help stimulate the economy and will keep the rail project close to its original schedule.

"I think that's fabulous," Chip Cherry, president of the Macon Economic Development Commission and the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce, said of the bond issue. "It's very important to us."

NewTown Macon President Conie Mac Darnell said he hopes the bond issue will "move the ball down the field."

"This is really good news for the rail program and for Macon," said the rail passenger authority's Alexander.

Amtrak Chairman John Robert Smith, who was in town Wednesday to lasso support for the national passenger railroad system, told members of the Commission on Middle Georgia Rail that a proposed U.S. Senate bill could put an Amtrak train in Macon within three years.

But even if the bill passes in its current form - it calls for Amtrak to receive $4.6 billion per year for five years, including complete funding of a high speed rail link to Atlanta - the states farthest along with their own rail plan will likely be first to get the federal money, Alexander said.

Smith, who also met this week with Gov. Roy Barnes and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, said North Carolina, for example, has already purchased rights-of-way and secured railroad crossings for a high-speed rail project through the state.

The entire Macon-Atlanta passenger rail plan, including the new intermodal station in Atlanta, could be completed for about $326 million, which Smith said is roughly half the cost of constructing an interstate highway lane the same distance.

Smith said that while Amtrak has long complained of being shortchanged - each year, the federal government spends $35 billion on highways, $15 billion on air travel and $500 million on Amtrak's 23,000 miles, he said - the Senate bill is part of a new vision.

"What this country needs is an intermodal transportation policy," Smith said.

He said a passenger should be able to purchase one ticket and check luggage onto a bus in Hickory, Miss., be transferred to a train in Meridian, Miss. -- where Smith is mayor -- and then moved onto an airplane in Atlanta for a "seamless trip" to Los Angeles.

Noting that more people died in the recent Oklahoma highway bridge collapse than have died in a decade on Amtrak, Smith said rail travel is safe and efficient, connecting passengers through downtowns.

He praised the city of Macon's recent purchase of Terminal Station and said that, with the right renovations, the building could be one of the best railway stations in the country and a "marvelous front door for the community."

"This is an economic development issue," said Ellis, who is co-chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors' advisory committee on Amtrak.

Smith said his city invested $1.3 million in a railroad station that has generated $50 million in nearby investment, such as in stores, restaurants and condominiums.

"You can't find the people who opposed the station project now," he said.