[...] The "Southeast High-Speed Rail Summit" will be held 1-2:30 p.m. at the Ritz Carlton hotel in downtown Atlanta.

Hosted by the Southeast Economic Alliance – an organization of 14 chambers of commerce in six Southern states – panelists will discuss the benefits of the 800-mile route proposed as a high-speed demonstration project. Trains would run more than 90 mph, according to an Alliance news release.

The first phase of the system would link nine cities, including Birmingham and Atlanta, a route deemed unprofitable by a 1994 Alabama Department of Transportation study.

The study found 196 curves would limit speeds to less than 80 mph on the current Norfolk Southern line used by Amtrak's Crescent passenger train. More than 80 curves between Irondale and Atlanta won't allow speeds more than 50 mph.

Two other alternatives were considered: an abandoned CSX line and a new high-speed rail system to run in the middle or to the side of Interstate 20. Each of the three options cost more than $1 billion in 1994 dollars.

The study's conclusion: "Even with four trains a day at 80 mph, the projected ridership of approximately 455 people per day for high-speed service does not appear to warrant the anticipated construction costs."

Alabama Power Co. president and CEO Charles McCrary and outgoing U.S. Rep. Earl Hilliard, D-Birmingham, are among six panelists who will discuss a proposed high-speed rail route from Birmingham to Washington, D.C. [...]