Music City Star

The Music City Star (reporting mark NRTX) is a commuter rail service running between Nashville and Lebanon, Tennessee. The service uses the existing track of the Nashville and Eastern Railroad. The line stops at seven stations: Riverfront, Donelson, Hermitage, Mt. Juliet, Martha, Hamilton Springs and Lebanon. The operation covers 32 miles (51 km) of rail line. Service began on September 18, 2006.[2]

For the American Association Basketball team, see Music City Stars.

Music City Star
Three EMD F40PH locomotives in use by the Music City Star lined up within the Lebanon, Tennessee yards. The third F40PH on the far right is painted in Amtrak Pacific Surfliner scheme.
Overview
OwnerTennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT)
LocaleNashville Metropolitan Area
Transit typeCommuter rail
Number of lines1
Number of stations7
Daily ridership900 (Q1 2020)[1]
WebsiteOfficial website
Operation
Began operationSeptember 18, 2006 (2006-09-18)
Operator(s)Tennessee Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)
Reporting marksNRTX
Number of vehicles4 Locomotives
7 Coaches
Train length3 Multi-level cars
Technical
System length32 miles (51.5 km)
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Average speed37 mph (60 km/h)
Top speed79 mph (127 km/h)
System map
Distance
 Station
0 mi
 Riverfront
Connection to CSX
I-24
SR 155 (Briley Parkway)
US 70 (Lebanon Pike)
10 mi
16 km
 Donelson
Stones River
15 mi
24 km
 Hermitage
19 mi
31 km
 Mt. Juliet
25 mi
40 km
 Martha
US 70 (Lebanon Road)
28 mi
45 km
 Hamilton Springs
US 70 (
Baddour
Parkway
)
32 mi
51 km
 Lebanon

Description

The Star is considered a "starter" project to demonstrate the effectiveness of commuter rail service to the metro Nashville area. Expansion plans include as many as six more lines, terminating in Gallatin, Columbia, Murfreesboro, Dickson, Springfield, and Clarksville via Ashland City. All are planned to use existing CSX Transportation railroad lines. The planned seven lines meet in central Nashville in a star formation, hence the name of the system, which also alludes to the city's many country music stars.

The Star is the first passenger train service of any kind for Nashville since the discontinuation of Amtrak's Floridian in 1979. The Nashville and Eastern line, part of the former Tennessee Central Railway, had not seen passenger service for many decades prior to the Star, with the exception of excursion trains operated by the Tennessee Central Railway Museum and the Broadway Dinner Train.

Rolling stock
ModelsBuiltNumberRoad Numbers
F40PHR, F40PH-24120–122, 381
Gallery cars7400-402 (cab cars), 500-503 (trailers)

The Music City Star regional rail service is currently served by four rebuilt ex-Amtrak EMD F40PH locomotives and seven former Chicago Metra coaches, standard gauge. The coaches are bilevel rail cars with seating on both levels. F40PHR 381 used to wear Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner paint scheme;[2] however, as of late 2020 it wears the new WeGo Star paint scheme and is now classified as an F40PH-2 as part of a rebuild program for the 4 units. Of the other 3 F40s, 122 has been rebuilt (the first of the 4 to do so) and 121 is currently in the rebuild process. The coaches used also saw an overhaul, the former Metra Pullman-Standard coaches were withdrawn from service and were parted and scrapped. They were replaced with ex-Chicago Burlington and Quincy, RTA, Metra, MI Train, corrugated stainless steel bi-level coaches. F40PHR 120 remains the last piece of equipment in the original Star paint scheme.

Lines
Riverfront station in downtown Nashville

Currently there is only one line, with six more planned to other satellite cities around Nashville.

The current line is 32 miles (51 km) long with seven stations. The line is mostly single-track, so this limits arrivals and departures to how long each train has to wait for the other to pass. The first "starter line" cost $41 million, or just under $1.3 million per mile, which made it the most cost-efficient commuter rail start-up in the nation.[3]

East Corridor line

Ridership

Music City Star ridership steadily increased from 104,785 passenger trips in 2007 to 277,148 trips in 2012.[4] In 2013, ridership decreased to 253,421 trips,[4] but then steadily increased to 298,800 passenger trips in 2018.[5][6] As of 2019, ridership has slightly decreased to 292,500 passenger trips.

50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019

History

The train began operations on September 18, 2006, becoming the 18th commuter rail system in the United States,[2] with a projected daily ridership of 1,500 passengers. The service launched with an estimated annual cost of $3.3 million, of which $1.3 million was covered by revenues.[7]

In the first month after service began, ridership failed to reach the projected goals,[7] a situation which continued for several years, culminating with a financial shortfall of $1.7 million by the summer of 2008, of which the state of Tennessee covered $1 million in a bailout of the service.[8] Financial difficulties continued into the next year; in June 2009, the service was nearly shut down for lack of funds until state and local authorities granted the service $4.4 million to continue service until 2011.[9]

During 2010, a third passenger car was added to all Music City Star trains to accommodate increasing ridership.[10]

On May 2, 2010, the East Corridor line was closed because of damage related to the floods that hit Middle Tennessee. Flood waters pushed tracks off a concrete trestle over Sinking Creek in downtown Lebanon. This trapped Star trains at their Lebanon storage yard, causing RTA to suspend service until the trestle was repaired. MTA substituted chartered buses instead, picking up passengers at all stations except Martha.[11] The line was repaired in one week.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 briefly resulted in the shutdown of Star rail service, but service resumed on June 15, 2020 with eight trains each weekday — two each way in the morning and two more in afternoon.[12]

A proposed expansion of the system to Clarksville and Ashland City is projected to cost $525 million.[13]

See also

References
  1. "Public Transportation Ridership Report Fourth Quarter 2019" (PDF). American Public Transport Association. February 27, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  2. "A Star is born: Nashville commuter trains to begin Sept. 18". Trains. August 21, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  3. Latham, Garl B. (2008). Rail Transit: An Oklahoma Economic Opportunity (PDF). OnTrac. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 28, 2010.
  4. Harrison, Scott (May 2, 2014). "The little engine that hasn't: Thinking it can hasn't been enough for Music City Star". Nashville Business Journal. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  5. "Public Transportation Ridership Report" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association. April 12, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  6. https://www.apta.com/research-technical-resources/transit-statistics/ridership-report/
  7. "Music City Star fails to meet ridership goals". Trains. October 27, 2006.
  8. "Tennessee offers to bail out Music City Star". Trains. July 17, 2008.
  9. "Music City Star gets two more years of funding". Trains. June 22, 2009.
  10. "Music City Star ridership continues to climb" (PDF). Regional Transportation Authority. October 12, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  11. "Bus, Train Service Suspended". NewsChannel5.com. May 2, 2010. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010.
  12. "COVID-19 Modified Service Plan" (PDF). RTA. June 14, 2020.
  13. Gonzalez, Tony (May 10, 2016). "Middle Tennessee's Best Hope For New Commuter Rail Is Taking Shape; Here's What It Looks Like". Nashville Public Radio. Retrieved April 14, 2018.

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