Chattanooga receives grant to study needs for Amtrak rail service

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The City of Chattanooga has received a grant to complete a study on bringing an Amtrak rail service to the area. Mayor Tim Kelly made the announcement Tuesday evening.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Corridor ID Program granted Chattanooga $500,000 to study the needs and requirements of bringing a passenger rail service between Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta.

This study will determine what is needed to establish this service on existing railroads.

Mayor Kelly made this statement regarding the funding.

“This is a huge step forward for an idea we’ve been pushing for from City Hall since Day 1 of my administration. Passenger rail is an important piece of the multimodal mobility goals we’ve laid out, and this award shows the broad support for and momentum behind our vision of reconnecting us to other major Southern cities by bringing passenger rail back to Chattanooga.” There aren’t many places in America whose history is as closely tied to rail travel as Chattanooga’s, and today’s announcement is a promising sign that the railroad will continue to be an important part of our future. I’m very thankful for the bipartisan support of our federal delegation, from the mayors of Nashville and Atlanta, and for the many partners and tremendous amount of work that went into submitting our successful application for this grant.”

This award places Chattanooga in “step one” of the Corridor ID Program. It allows the city to start working with the Federal Railroad Administration.