NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two Nashville lawmakers have introduced a bill in the state legislature asking for a study of possible Amtrak service connecting Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis.
The Nashville Tennessean reports state Rep. Jason Powell and state Sen. Heidi Campbell, both Democrats, are sponsoring the legislation which would direct the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to study the cost and feasibility of the state operation.
Similar legislation introduced in 2020 passed the Senate but was unaddressed in the House when its session was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amtrak has included Nashville-Chattanooga service in its “Connects US” wish list as part of a route that would extend to Atlanta and Savannah, Ga. [See “Amtrak unveils ‘Connects US’ …,” Trains News Wire, March 31, 2021.] An east-west line connecting Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville is not part of that plan.
Nashville, the third largest city in the U.S. without Amtrak service, was last served by the Chicago-St.Petersburg/Miami Floridian, discontinued in 1979. Tennessee’s only current Amtrak service is by the City of New Orleans, through Memphis along the state’s western edge.
Powell has also announced formation of a Train Travel Caucus to advocate for the study and for creation of a state agency to oversee rail and public transportation.
The House version of the legislation is HB2278; the Senate version is SB2602.
A republican state of mind and Amtrak. Best of luck to ya!
The biggest challenge to the Chattanooga – Memphis route is US-72. I can (and do) drive this route in 6 hours on Fridays and Sundays. Bus service between these point also exists. The train must be competitive in travel time and price to succeed. Airline competition on this route diminished some years ago as the direct Northwest flight was cancelled after Delta acquired Northwest.
There is a double-track railroad in Tennessee – NS – from southeast of Bridgeport, AL, through Chattanooga to Ooletwah, TN. CSX operates over this line between Bridgeport and Chattanooga. The route of a future Amtrak train may be Nashville-Bridgeport over CSX, and Bridgeport-Chattanooga-Atlanta on NS.
Chattanooga – Atlanta would use the state-owned Western & Atlantic Railroad that operates via Dalton, Cartersville, and Marietta. While CSX operates this line, the state of Georgia owns it and the most recent lease renewal requires CSX to allow passenger service over the line if the state were to request it.
Waste of dough. Tennessee is a pay as you go state and they have several unfunded highway problems, especially around the Memphis area. I realize that Nashville has become this uber hub of the new cool and hip urbanite, but before dispensing a bunch of money into a service like this, they need to get some other houses in order.
With restoration of Amtrak service to Nashville, arrangement would need to be made with the hotel occupying Union Station on Broadway. At least two tracks would need to be restored with a canopied platform between them. The ticket office and waiting room may be on the ground level as at Dallas Union Station if not in the corner of the lobby that was the main hall at street level.
Elsewhere in Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Memphis could again have direct passenger train service. The route between Chattanooga and Memphis would dip south of the Tennessee state line through Huntsville (2020 pop: 215,006) and Sheffield, Alabama and Corinth, Missisippi. [Remember: Some state funded Amtrak trains go out of state as between neighbouring British Columbia and Oregon.]
They should be working on that gap of Louisville to Nashville if anything.
Gap Louisville to Nashville? There’s also a gap between Louisville and anywhere else, like Cincinnati —- and one might question if Cinncy’s train service even counts as anything measurable.
Robert E. Lee knew that the railroads in what’s now called the Mid-South were a problem. Wonder what’s changed since 1865. Not much.
And there’s a gap between New Orleans and Jacksonville also.
Good luck with that! Tennessee is a booming, prosperous state without the rail system to support it. The difference between todays’ CSX main Nashville to Chattanooga, compared to the railroad William S. Rosecrans and Braxton Bragg fought over 1862 to 1863, is the welded rail. It’s not just the inadequate railroads. Metro Nashville – Davidson has the worst highways in North America and a topography and infrastructure that simply can’t suport its constant population increase. Question: – is there a double-track raiload ANYWHERE in Tennessee? I have seen such.
Nor does it help that CSX is the landlord.
Yeah it would be great to see some passenger trains in one of inland America’s pivotal states. It ain’t gonna happen.