WeGo Star
The WeGo Star (reporting mark NRTX) (formerly the Music City Star) is a commuter rail service which runs between Nashville and Lebanon, Tennessee. The service uses the existing track of the Nashville and Eastern Railroad. The line stops at seven stations: Riverfront (Nashville), 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] In 2023, the line had a ridership of 108,000.[1]
For the American Basketball Association team, see Music City Stars.WeGo Star
7
108,000 (2023)[1]
September 18, 2006
Tennessee Regional Transportation Authority
NRTX
4 locomotives
11 coaches
2-3 gallery cars
32 mi (51 km)
4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
37 mph (60 km/h)
79 mph (127 km/h)
Description[edit]
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 original 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.
The interior view inside an original WeGo Star passenger coach
History[edit]
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.[9]
In the first month after service began, ridership failed to reach the projected goals,[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]
During 2010, a third passenger car was added to all WeGo Star trains to accommodate increasing ridership.[12]
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.[13] The line was repaired in one week.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee 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 the afternoon.[14]
A proposed expansion of the system to Clarksville and Ashland City is projected to cost $525 million.[15]