A fleet of MARTA train cars find a new home in the ocean as artificial reefs

Photograph courtesy of Georgia DNR

It was a balmy 60 degrees last December when two 55,000-pound MARTA railcars slowly inched off a barge east of Ossabaw Island. The 72-foot-long behemoths, which for decades had ferried millions of Atlantans around the city, edged out like hesitant swimmers over the cold, roiling water. And then they tipped and vanished, plunging 60 feet to the seafloor.

The cars were the latest addition to Georgia’s Offshore Artificial Reef (OAR) program , which began in 1970 and is currently administered by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Coastal Resources Division. Over the last half century, the state has created inshore and offshore reefs made of myriad repurposed items: old battle tanks, pieces of bridges, concrete tetrapods, and pallet balls, plus sections of tugboats, pipes, pilings, and even chicken cages. After decommissioning eight Tactical Aircrew Combat Training System towers, once used to train pilots, the state Department of Defense contributed them to the cause, and their “legs” have already become reefs. In a full-circle moment, the 100-ton bronze propeller of the infamous Golden Ray cargo ship , which capsized in 2019 in St. Simons Sound, has also been donated as a reef.

The OAR Project, which covers over 116 square miles of ocean, includes 20 offshore reefs, not counting the training towers. Some of those reefs are built as far as 70 miles from shore, while two close-to-shore beach reefs have been crafted for anglers in smaller boats. One might wonder why we need these artificial reefs: It’s simply because Georgia has so few natural ones. Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary , 19 miles east of Sapelo Island, is an extraordinary exception, with over 200 species of fish. But Georgia’s coastal ocean floor is mostly shell and sand, stretching for 80 miles before it meets the Gulf Stream; a mere 5 percent contains the right habitat for game fish. “Each of our reef areas is 2 by 2 square nautical miles,” explains marine biologist Paul Medders, the artificial reef, habitat restoration, and boating access unit leader at DNR’s Coastal Resources Division. That is a vast amount of sea space. “We could put stuff in each of those reef ‘boxes’ for a hundred more years and not come close to filling up those areas.”

Photograph by Greg McFall/NOAA

Photograph by Greg McFall/NOAA

The artificial reefs attract over a quarter million recreational anglers a year, and directly bring in $220 million a year, as well as several hundred million more through transportation, dining, hotels, and other tourism spending. “It’s really nice having these reefs,” explains Josh Cook, co-owner, along with angler Richie Lott, of Georgia Sport Fishing Charters . “Essentially there was a desert in the ocean, and they put an oasis there.”

Thomas Worthy, immediate past chair of the board at MARTA, spearheaded the cars-to-reefs project after meeting former DNR commissioner Mark Williams at a social event. “I was introduced to him, and he said, ‘I want all your old cars,’” says Worthy. “I said, ‘What the heck are you talking about?’” But after Williams explained the history of the reef program, Worthy was a convert. “This was perfect timing for us,” he says. Over the next decade, the entire MARTA fleet will be upgraded with 224 new, state-of-the-art cars, and the old fleet will slowly be retired. In 2022, the MARTA Board of Directors approved a plan to send eight of the agency’s decommissioned cars to the DNR. The cars are thoroughly cleaned and stripped of any hazardous materials or contaminants before being transported to the coast. The two cars deposited in December were the first to go.

Through the inventive force of nature herself, this metal “trash” is soon covered with fantastical outcroppings of soft coral, sponges, and other organisms, growing half a foot thick within five years. Smaller baitfish make the reefs their home, and soon after, larger game fish, turtles, and other marine life follow, populating every protective nook, cranny, and crevice. Georgia’s temperate climate and relatively balmy waters fill the artificial reefs with stunning biodiversity: “The first time I dove them, I couldn’t believe how beautiful these reefs were,” says Daniel Gleason, a marine ecologist at Georgia Southern University. “The diversity rivals natural coral reefs.”

This article appears in our July 2024 issue.

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