There's action on Tennessee cities getting passenger trains. Why is Knoxville left out?

Allie Feinberg, Knoxville News Sentinel
Updated ·4 min read

You might have seen headlines touting the possibility of a new passenger train connecting Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga to Atlanta. But what about Knoxville?

The Scruffy City is home to Tennessee's third-largest city by population, according to U.S. Census data. It outranks Chattanooga, our neighbor to the south that's included in the new Amtrak expansion plan.

If you're a Knoxvillian and playing the role of a jealous sibling left out of the mix, we've got answers.

Why is the Tennessee railway expansion coming up again?

It's because U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis this week announced $500,000 in federal funding for analyzing the railway project's scope.

“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 the route’s proposed cities to continue to move this project forward,” Cohen said.

The funds are the first step in a process that could take years, but it does go a long way toward bringing connectivity to the state. The next step is using funds to look at how much a railway connecting Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta will cost.

Amtrak's proposed routes for expansion into the South. They include new passenger rail stops in Nashville, Chattanooga as well as Memphis.
Amtrak's proposed routes for expansion into the South. They include new passenger rail stops in Nashville, Chattanooga as well as Memphis.

"This doesn't happen without all four cities being involved and federal support," said Chattanooga Director of Intergovernmental and External Affairs Ellis Smith. "It's about creating connectivity between these four cities."

It's a part of the expansion President Joe Biden announced in 2021. We knew back then that the $80 billion project would not include Knoxville, and it stings now that it's closer to actually being built.

Physical limitations prevent a passenger rail in Knoxville

This isn't a new conversation. Biden's expansion was supposed to happen by 2035 and incorporate Nashville and Chattanooga, as well as Asheville, North Carolina.

The reason why the tracks route around Knoxville instead of through it? The East Tennessee terrain. It's got mountains.

But weren't there trains here before? Yes.

Portions of the old Central Tennessee Railway track that linked Nashville and Knoxville over the Cumberland Plateau were abandoned between the 1980s and 1990s, which makes restoring direct service much more costly.

In all likelihood, a Knoxville-Nashville line would connect through Chattanooga, which would mean a longer trip by rail than by car. That's a tough sell for the average American traveler.

David Clarke, retired director of the University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research, told Knox News a few years ago that many of the existing tracks are curved and twisted due to the often extreme topography of the region, making high-speed service less feasible and practical. Local trains might be limited to between 60 and 80 miles per hour.

"It's a pretty slow trip from Asheville to Knoxville by train because the train goes along the French Broad River," said Clarke, "It's like a little over an hour and a half by car. By train it's probably more like two and a half hours."

Building a stronger train system would be as expensive as when the federal government built the highway system. It's a concept that's a long way off, if it ever happens.

"Most people are only just starting to think about trains," Clarke said.

Knoxville is not designated as a 'hub'

In December 2022, the Tennessee Department of Transportation submitted a letter to the Federal Railroad Administration expressing interest in a passenger rail and confirming a statewide study would be completed by July 2023.

That study resulted in the selection of Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga as identified corridors — or hubs, really — for future use.

Knoxville didn't make the cut. Or at least, the initial cut.

The study identified three tiers ranging in priority, with the first being the Memphis-Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta route. Tier 2 is a connecting line of Chattanooga to Knoxville to Bristol with the goal of eventually connecting Bristol deeper into Virginia and portions of the busy Northeast Regional Passenger rail corridor.

TDOT tiers for passenger railway recommendations: 

  • Tier 1: Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta

  • Tier 2: Memphis-Nashville | Chattanooga-Knoxville-Bristol

  • Tier 3: Memphis-Carbondale, Illinois-Chicago | Nashville-Louisville, Kentucky

But that's a long way away. One timeline in the state's study projects 84 months between feasibility assessments and passenger use. That's seven years.

So Knoxville's time could come, but it's not likely within this decade. For now, our bigger (and in one case, smaller) counterparts have a better chance of getting passenger rail.

Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Amtrak expansion plan through Tennessee leaves out Knoxville