Trains' Newswire reported this week that NS has agreed to purchase for $1.6 billion the line they lease from the city of Cincinnati. It extends from there to Chattanooga. Extensive work was done on it in the 60's to reduce curves and tunnels. I rode it shortly after that work was completed but before schedules had been adjusted. We arrived in Chattanooga over an hour early. This would have been a perfect opportunity for the sale to include a requirement that NS agree to negotiate the operation of a passenger train on favorable terms for Amtrak. Getting to Chattanooga is much faster than via the CSX route and eliminates its more mountainous route south of Nashville. Of course it also manages to miss the state's three biggest cities! But it is a good route if the purpose is to connect the midwest with the southeast.
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