Little Idea: TN High Speed Rail (Memphis, Knoxville: 2009, live, cost of)

[rccrain]

I was bored and an idea popped into my head. I couldn't leave it alone, so I thought I'd share it here and get some reactions.

How cool would it be to have high speed rail from the Tri-Cities to Memphis?

Google says the drive time for such a distance is 7.5 hours, but then there's bathroom and food breaks so you're really looking at 9 hours if your really good and avoid the big city traffic. Ten hours is more realistic.

With high speed rail, I estimate 490 miles at an average speed of 100MPH gets you there in 4.9 hours. The biggest plus for me aside from the time saved is not having to be behind the wheel for an entire work day. You could read, sleep, chat, eat, drink, and hit the restroom - all at your leisure.

The plan would have rails from the TRI to Knoxville to Crossville to Nashville to Memphis. There would be another loop from Knoxville to Chattanooga to Nashville. The route would look something like this: from:Johnson City, TN 37601 to:nashville to:Chattanooga, Tennessee to:knoxville to:memphis - Google Maps.

In a perfect world, Georgia would extend its MARTA rail system from north Atlanta and meet our "TARTA" in Chattanooga. Also Charlotte (w/ Amtrak Station) would connect through Asheville to Knoxville or the TRI - whichever is more cost efficient.

[pineywoods]

Awesome. But expensive. And would the Tri have enough of a market to support it? Good thinking. I'd love to see it a reality!

[SarahSal]

I love the idea --- makes perfect sense with the cost of fuel today.. My family and I would certainly take advantage of it but would other's who love their automobiles? That's part of the ~problem~ - American's love affair with their cars...

I have retired friends and Mex neighbors who *just* wrote to say they were taking Amtrak from Springfield, IL to San Francisco to spend a few days with family then they'll fly from there to Mex.
How wonderful not to have to spend days in your car to go cross country but hop a train and enjoy the scenery..

I think that phrase (used by the 9-11 Commission) holds true in this potential scenario --- "a failure of imagination".. If the TRI can't get together regionally and, per JC, can't even figure out how to reclaim their historic downtown, then there's not much hope, unfortunately, for this wonderful idea! But I'd sure support it if it were to miraculously happen!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by rccrain

I was bored and an idea popped into my head. I couldn't leave it alone, so I thought I'd share it here and get some reactions.

How cool would it be to have high speed rail from the Tri-Cities to Memphis?

Google says the drive time for such a distance is 7.5 hours, but then there's bathroom and food breaks so you're really looking at 9 hours if your really good and avoid the big city traffic. Ten hours is more realistic.

With high speed rail, I estimate 490 miles at an average speed of 100MPH gets you there in 4.9 hours. The biggest plus for me aside from the time saved is not having to be behind the wheel for an entire work day. You could read, sleep, chat, eat, drink, and hit the restroom - all at your leisure.

The plan would have rails from the TRI to Knoxville to Crossville to Nashville to Memphis. There would be another loop from Knoxville to Chattanooga to Nashville. The route would look something like this: from:Johnson City, TN 37601 to:nashville to:Chattanooga, Tennessee to:knoxville to:memphis - Google Maps.

In a perfect world, Georgia would extend its MARTA rail system from north Atlanta and meet our "TARTA" in Chattanooga. Also Charlotte (w/ Amtrak Station) would connect through Asheville to Knoxville or the TRI - whichever is more cost efficient.

The state has talked about this before. About the only thing the state has said differently is that there would be a stop in Cookeville, not Crossville. At least that's what they said when doing meetings across the state several years ago in public forums. It would probably be cheaper to go from Cookeville to Oak Ridge and bypass Crossville altogether.

I-40, Tennessee's "Main Street" is getting pretty clogged. It's almost gotten to the point where you can't use your car's cruise control because of all the traffic. So the options are to widen I-40 to 6 lanes all the way from Memphis to Knoxville, which would cost billions, or develop high-speed rail which would also cost billions. Then from Knoxville it would be a natural extension to go on up through Bristol all the way to Washington.

Having lived in France with their trains which routinely go at 220mph, I would LOVE to have the option of taking a high-speed train. Can you imagine going from Bristol to Knoxville in 30 minutes? Or from Knoxville to Memphis in 2 hours? And WITHOUT having to show up at an airport an hour before departure. Downtown to downtown. It would be beautiful.

[pineywoods]

Tri Cities to Nashville would allow people to take advantage of cheaper airfares in Nashville, and really, the entire state would benefit from faster, easier entertainment options/tourism.

[beckyhuggs]

The government is looking at instituting High speed rail across the nation http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/us...s/17train.html
Right now the only high speed rail line is from DC to Boston. I know that it is VERY expensive to take that rail line. I know someone who did it and he said it was worth it but it's rather like choosing to fly first class over coach. If you don't have that kind of money your not going to choose to do it.
I believe they are first trying to get major cities such as NYC to Boston connected with high speed rail.
But I agree, it would be very cool to have high speed rail connecting this country like they do in Europe. I loved being able to go from country to country on the rail system while in Europe. It made getting around so much easier.

[SarahSal]

Originally Posted by pineywoods

Tri Cities to Nashville would allow people to take advantage of cheaper airfares in Nashville, and really, the entire state would benefit from faster, easier entertainment options/tourism.

Not to mention the energy savings! Wouldn't that be great to be able to go from the TRI to the northeast or the northwest without consuming huge amounts of fuel. I wonder if our elected local officials have even considered this? I imagine it would all have to emanate from the feds..

[jabogitlu]

Awesome. But expensive. And would the Tri have enough of a market to support it? Good thinking. I'd love to see it a reality!

Doubt it. The only feasible way to get a Knoxville extension to the TRI is if it hooks to DC. That's where interstate cooperation will be VITAL. Else smaller markets like Chattanooga (connecting through Greenville to Jacksonville or Atlanta) and the TRI (connecting through Roanoke to DC) can't exist on rail.

[mbmouse]

Originally Posted by pineywoods

Tri Cities to Nashville would allow people to take advantage of cheaper airfares in Nashville, and really, the entire state would benefit from faster, easier entertainment options/tourism.

I agree. However I would like to see the Tri as a hub of sorts. Say from DC to the Tri, then a choice to either continue South to Atlanta or West to Nashville. Of course with a few stop options in between on each route.

[TopshelfTom]

I don't know how fast amtrak trains run, but I do know NYC has trains going to atlanta, ohio, etc....and it took me 7 hours to get from DC to Albany (which is roughly the same time it would take to drive the distance, though i had an hour and a half stopover in NYC) it would be great if i would be able to catch one to the tri-cities as it would be very easy for me to come visit my friends in the area....i would certainly support such a thing for the Tri-cities area...