Details emerged Tuesday about what could be Middle Tennessee’s best chance to add a new commuter rail line. For an estimated $525 million dollars, it would run roughly 40 miles between Clarksville, Ashland City, and Nashville.
This train would make the full trip in 43 minutes, compared to what experts say could take two hours by car by the year 2040.
And trains would run every 20 minutes during morning and afternoon rush hours, which would be far more frequent than other regional routes now run by the Regional Transportation Authority, which commissioned the months-long study public input process.
Consultant Shawn Dikes, with WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, says the line could attract 3,000 daily riders.
“There’s other corridors — maybe other alignments — that had more congestion, perhaps, than I-24 going to Clarksville,” he said. “But this particular project has half of the right-of-way already existing.”
Dikes explained that (continue reading at NPR)