ATLANTA, Ga. — Riders waiting on MARTA next-generation railcars still do not have a start date. Agency chief Jonathan Hunt said during a public Atlanta City Council Transportation Committee meeting on Wednesday that the CQ400 fleet is close to service but is not ready to carry passengers yet.
Councilmember Matt Westmoreland pushed for a target, asking if riders could expect them around Halloween, at Thanksgiving, or as late as Valentine’s Day. Hunt would not pick a date. He did say in the session that the question should be settled well before another six to eight months pass.
The holdup now centers on safety paperwork. Hunt said a certification document he must personally sign goes to the Georgia Department of Transportation, which then sends it on to the Federal Transit Administration before the cars can enter revenue service.
The railcars come from Swiss manufacturer Stadler and are meant to replace an aging fleet, part of which has been in use since 1979. A June launch timed ahead of the World Cup was pushed back while state certification was still pending, and MARTA had once pointed to 2025 for the first cars.
In a statement issued after the meeting, MARTA said no revised public timeline exists yet and that staff are still working with Stadler through the certification process. The agency said it will share more once the first new trains are cleared to carry riders.
For daily riders, that means the older cars stay on the Red, Gold, Blue and Green lines for now, with no firm switchover date on the calendar.
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