Passenger rail in Tennessee? The plan is chugging along with a new grant

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A study newly approved by the federal government will look at commuter rail east and west of Nashville.

The study will come from a $500,000 grant to the Federal Railroad Administration to look at connections between Nashville to Memphis, Nashville to Chattanooga, and Nashville to Atlanta.

“Passenger rail service linking Tennessee’s major cities will be a major economic shot in the arm and will invigorate travel and tourism across our state," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee. "I was pleased to submit a letter of support for this project and am glad that the FRA has heeded my repeated calls to prioritize this important project. Once this service is in operation, much of the country will be accessible by rail from Memphis. This is a very big deal, and I look forward to working with stakeholders in all of the route’s proposed cities to continue to move this project forward.”

State lawmakers told NewsChannel 5 on Wednesday that this is just step one of the process, but that they are excited to movement for passenger rail across Tennessee. They have dubbed Nashville "a black hole" on the Amtrak map across the country.

"The respective cities put in for that," Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, said. "This is something I have been personally pushing for along with some of my colleagues up here for many years to bring back passenger rail to Tennessee. This is a tremendous first step. We have already studied this in our state. Tennesseans overwhelmingly want to see passenger rail."

Chris Davis contributed to this report.