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Chattanooga passenger rail advocates propose new light rail service
Re: Mr. Norton, I would say this would be an easy do, especially in a town that owes it’s existence to railroads. I would love to see this but with all the enviromental crazies you never know. I hope this happens sooner rather than later.
The article mentions another study valued at $700,000.00. This would most likely cover all the architectural and engineering fees required to actually design the system! Chattanooga is a great tourist destination and should be able to pull this off…assuming that there are not additional studies.
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press story this project would cost $40 million! My family has lived in Chattanooga since 1999 and although I love trains I don’t think the city really needs a light rail line. Traffic isn’t that bad (unless of course it’s rush hour but even then it’s not like Chicago or Atlanta) and with how hilly downtown and other areas can be I think they would have a challenge going to some popular locations. Additionally, if they want to be in the heart of downtown where the aquarium is I can’t think of any possible place they could put some tracks without completely changing how the roads are. Sure they could probably go to the Choo Choo, but not too far from there is NS’s Debutts yard and that area is a little rough around the edges if you know what I mean.
Inviting private investors, including developers, to the project of developing light rail can make Chattanooga succeed where San Antonio, Texas failed. Joint ventures between public agencies and private enterprise can be successful in railway passenger transportation with the return from revenues generating added patronage to businesses.
Light rail and tourism doesn’t seem like a very good plan for transit resources. I can see a well planned streetcar that would encourage a higher density mixed use development for Chattanooga as a better option. Been years since I have been there so my opinion is truly not worth more then the two cents given. But, I just don’t see how transit planning for a fixed rail high occupancy use should even consider tourism as a driver.
Why would there be concerns about the environment since the cars will run on electricity? Why would “environmental crazies” be pushed out of shape about the most environmentally friendly vehicles?
Interesting. A city with an almost invisible public transit system (two primary routes, one middlin’ route and several with barely any service), how on earth could a rail transit project be justified with the incredible cost associated with it. Transit-dependent bus riders will not be served by it, and tourists probably are not going to be served unless it is just to “ride a streetcar.”
The CARTA route from downtown to St. Elmo, which serves the famous Lookout Mountain Incline, has very poor bus service and serves essentially no tourists, who prefer to drive to Lookout Mountain visit Rock City, maybe ride the Incline, etc.
Not saying it can’t or shouldn’t be done, but planners had best get all of their ducks in a row on this or it will simply be a massive waste of [other people’s] money!
Being that I am actually in Chattanooga frequently, that I live nearby, and that I’m familiar with the layout of the city and the areas this would serve, and having heard this story before, I’ll add that the line would use mostly existing rights of way and even existing track for a large portion of it, keeping costs very low for startup. Hence the 40 million figure. I suspect it would be a bit more but still well below startup costs for other systems. It would serve downtown at a place that could be made into a better transit hub because it to some degree already is, and link to a popular downtown bus route that gets special attention because it is an electric bus running the length of the most popular pedestrian area of the city. It would also serve the airport, which seems to be the holy grail of rail transit systems to get there for any city. Unfortunately the airport isn’t terribly busy. The airport service would be on a branch line, which adds to the cost, but at least the greyhound bus terminal is right by the airport and if done correctly, the line could serve that too, increasing usefulness of that line. From as many planes and busses I’ve seen coming and going from these two transit centers, there might barely be enough traffic to have a few people use the light rail each trip. A parking garage at that location might provide some additional patronage, as the location is just off some major thoroughfares such that people could get there easily from that side of town, and get downtown on the rail while avoiding the worst of traffic on longer highway routes to get downtown.
That it serves enterprise south is great. Sort of. Volkswagon just built a huge new car assembly plant there, and I think Amazon is there as well, both big employers. However, the area is pretty spread out, so once you’re off the train, there’s a good chance you’ll have a long walk to get to your office or assembly line position, probably much farther than if you drove there and parked. A parking ga
As Tennessee’s 4th largest urban center it seems strange at least that this one would attempt what the larger Knoxville has not and, as recently announced, Memphis has had to admit failure to by closing a major downtown local passenger rail line. Only Nashville has succeeded so far in these pursuits and its projected 8-or-10 spokes from suburbia still consist of only one active. Wouldn’t this be too great a challenge for Chattanooga’s city fathers? We’ll watch their efforts from our vantage points with baited breath.
I’d love to visit Tennessee by rail. It’s a beautiful state made for it. Unfortunately, the rail service they have there is next to non-existent, and it has taken decades just to get a single commuter train started in Nashville, and a streetcar system in Memphis whose future appears to be in jeopardy due to the problems with its rail vehicles. I’ve driven the interstate highways there, and have seen lots of crashes on its mountains, many due to excessive speed. It’s not just trucks, but I see a lot of mobile homes and small vehicles towing rental trailers that have been involved in overturns. Tennessee’s reluctance to even think of bringing rail service back just wants me to dig out that old Johnny Cash recording and listen to “The L&N don’t stop here any more”.