Rail Study To Include Look At Possible Passenger Service To Atlanta, Nashville

[NS Newsfeed]

A $700,000 study on setting up a 23-mile light rail system in Chattanooga will also take a look at resuming passenger train service to Atlanta and Nashville, officials said.

The work scope of the study says, "The study will also consider the feasibility of restoring passenger rail connections from Chattanooga to neighboring cities like Atlanta and Nashville effectively leveraging the investment in intracity rail in the city to further enhance accessibility.

"In close collaboration with rail cargo providers, the study will also analyze existing rail infrastructure capacity within the city to accommodate existing needs and future intracity rail passenger growth."

Chattanooga was once a major rail passenger hub with several depots, but rail service ended in the early 1970s.

The existing rail line from Chattanooga to Nashville and the two rail lines from Chattanooga to Atlanta are heavily used for freight.

The work scope discusses bringing light rail service from downtown to the Enterprise South Industrial Park and the Chattanooga Airport mainly using existing under-used track.

The consultants are to study where stations would be needed along the route, which likely would go from the Chattanooga Choo Choo to near the National Cemetery and Warner Park and through the old Missionary Ridge Tunnel now used only by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.

CARTA is to oversee the project for the city of Chattanooga.

The work is to start March 1 with a consultant named by July 14. The study is to start Aug. 7 and be ready by May or June of 2016.

[Bill Richardson]

How can it possibly cost almost a quarter million dollars to do a study?  Seems to me there is a lot of padding going on.  Now and then, I'll see some report about a study that costs an outrageous amount of money.  Usually, it is government related.  I suppose this is connected governments, state and probably federal too.  I guess people who do studies charge lawyer rates.

[lwjabo]

The State of Georgia keeps doing studies on rail service between Atlanta, Athens, Macon and even Savannah. They do this only to shut people up. They have no plans to ever do it. Metro Atlanta is now well over 5 million and the other day they announced the state population has went past 10 million. Only recently Clayton County joined MARTA. That the metro transit. There are at least 15 county's in it buy only Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton are members. Cobb and Gwinnett are almost 1 million people each. So does DeKalb and Fulton and Clayton a little over 25 thousand. There are no plans to extend rail service to Clayton although MARTA does have rail service to the Airport which is in NW end of the county. Clayton agreed to let them build the tracks into the airport some 30 years ago.