Tennessee study for Amtrak

[Palmland]

Yes, another study. Trains newswire reported this.

“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.”

Only the Nashville- Chattanooga portion is part of Amtrak’s ‘Connect Us’ plan and is probably the most difficult to implement due to the topography and freight traffic volume. I’d vote for Memphis to Nashville as it’s a direct route with no mountains and certainly has the major cities. It would also provide system connectivity with the CONO.

 

[leccy]

Nashville is CSX territory and they are not exactly best friends with Amtrak at the moment.

Bit of a left field question. How much of the old Tennessee Central alignment through Cumberland is still there? If rebuilt would that be a plausible way to get Knoxville to Nashville albeit missing Chattanooga?

 

[Palmland]

How much of the old Tennessee Central alignment through Cumberland is still there?

I guess the alignment is still there but about 30 miles between Monterey and Crab Orchard is abandoned. It would be a massive rebuild and much of the TC was built as cheaply as possible and not suitable for passenger trains at a decent speed. But with the ROW still there anything is possible! And, as Roy Acuff said in song, ‘the old TC is good enough for me’.

 

[leccy]

Heh.

Given some really high figures of infrastructure needed to support extra trains on the main lines (see discussion about $170m for a second train Harrisburg to Pittsburgh) out of the box alternatives start to add up. According to Wikipedia rebuilding the Lackawanna cutoff line is estimated at $290 million including 21 miles of track. Then again, if the TC alignment is crud it might not be worth it.

hmm...

 

[VentureForth]

Connect Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis to what? The CONO in Memphis? If they are JUST talking about joining these four cities, it would be a state corridor and funded as such. But having it's only connection to the Amtrak network in Memphis is not very strong. Chattanooga to Atlanta would be probably just as weak.

Chattanooga is an outlier in a "straight line" approach. The time from Chattanooga to Nashville would double if you went through Knoxville rather than go direct. But Knoxville is the third largest city in the state, but by barely 10,000 more than Chat.

Seems like motor coaches have the best opportunity in this state.

 

[west point]

Bit of a left field question. How much of the old Tennessee Central alignment through Cumberland is still there? If rebuilt would that be a plausible way to get Knoxville to Nashville albeit missing Chattanooga?

Absolutely not. When there was a thru sleeper(s) Bristol - Nashville on TC the time enroute got better when it became SOU - Chattanooga and N&SL to Nashville even with the station transfer at Chattanooga. The US70 or US70W drives were terrible but still much faster than TC. From SOU Knoxville to the connection on the SOU's CNO&TP at Emory Gap (Harriman) is 2:10 for 50 miles.

That drive so divided Tennessee that at one time TN advertised it as the three states of Tennessee, That terrible drive is why I-40 was the first interstate construction Knoxville - Nashville. Unfortunately, the engineering was too early, and I-40 there is not up to present interstate standards.

 

[Seaboard92]

Nashville is CSX territory and they are not exactly best friends with Amtrak at the moment.

Bit of a left field question. How much of the old Tennessee Central alignment through Cumberland is still there? If rebuilt would that be a plausible way to get Knoxville to Nashville albeit missing Chattanooga?

The TC runs from Nashville to Lebanon at 60 MPH as part of the Music City Star and is signaled. After there it drops to 25-30 all the way out to some point where it gets slower for Cookeville and Monterey. Cookeville to Monterey was actually reopened and rebuilt in the mid 2000s for a sand plant at Hanging Limb. After that it is abandoned again till it becomes a industrial shortline to the NS interchange.

Honestly it could be rebuilt the right of way is intact enough.

 

[jasminvirgelzaa72]

Absolutely not. When there was a thru sleeper(s) Bristol - Nashville on TC the time enroute got better when it became SOU - Chattanooga and N&SL to Nashville even with the station transfer at Chattanooga. The US70 or US70W drives were terrible but still much faster than TC. From SOU Knoxville to the connection on the SOU's CNO&TP at Emory Gap (Harriman) is 2:10 for 50 miles.

That drive so divided Tennessee that at one time TN advertised it as the three states of Tennessee, That terrible drive is why I-40 was the first interstate construction Knoxville - Nashville. Unfortunately, the engineering was too early, and I-40 there is not up to present interstate standards. I really love all kinds of research like this. At university I spent a lot of time with them. But I never succeeded with narrative writing, I learn at https://papersowl.com/blog/how-to-write-narrative-essay and this was the only way out of the situation. This infuriated me terribly, since almost everything worked out for me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do it.

maybe you are right.
The question of route choice, especially the preference of Memphis to Nashville, raises interesting options. Implementing Amtrak's Connect Us plan in this region could have a significant impact on citizen access and mobility, as well as promoting economic development.

 

[west point]

Want to rebuild the TC RR? Take a look at these ROW pictures. Look at the rock slide potential.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...cemtra;+railroad+pictures&form=IQFRML&first=1

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

TN, a study in contrasts. Plus Chattanooga. A choo-choo and an incline railway.

Whether the state wants to spend money, hard to tell. There's not much political downside to using a grant to run a study. And every state but Hawaii cobbles together a State Rail Plan every four years for the FRA. Many grants go for freight.

Is HSR exempt from the 750-mile rule? And when are extensions wrangled into existing LD's?