NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The WeGo Star commuter rail service is considering operating changes including the introduction of evening and Saturday service, as well as Sunday operation for Tennessee Titans football games.
Currently, the service offers six daily round trips, weekdays only, on a seven-station, 32-mile route between downtown Nashville and Lebanon, Tenn., on the Nashville & Eastern Railroad, using ex-Amtrak F40PH locomotives and former Metra bilevel coaches. Four of those round trips run the full Nashville-Lebanon route; two make short turns at Mt. Juliet, 17 miles from Nashville. Three trips run during the morning rush and three in the evening.
The proposal also includes bus service on the rail route at midday. The additional service could cost between $9 million and $10 million, WKRN-TV reports. Funding has yet to be determined, but could come from a mix of local government and grant sources.
The operation’s parent agency, the Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee, held a series of public meetings on the proposals earlier this month in which it presented those options; the presentations from those meetings, as well as a public survey continuing through Aug. 11, are available here.
Changes could help the service regain lost ridership. WPLN Radio reports the Star, which carried more than 200,000 passengers per month prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, has yet to reach 50% of pre-pandemic ridership as of March of this year.
WeGo officials will go to the RTA in October to receive initial approval; it could take three to five years to put the changes in place.
Sorry folks, the previous high of 200K passengers (more than twice the current count) isn’t a whole lot. By my math, that’s less than 500 people. Now it’s less than half that.
Metro Nashville is a transportation disaster. It has a rapidly growing population (for reasons that escape me) and truly awful roads, the worst I have seen. The train may be a fine alternative for those few who use it and don’t have to drive, but makes zero difference in the overall gridlock.