Ron Harr
Proposed light rail line route from downtown Chattanooga to Enterprise South.Jim Olson first visited Chattanooga in 1993 to ride on the historic steam locomotive at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRRM).
He and his wife fell in love with the town so much that when an engineering job came open at the Tennessee Valley Authority two years later, Olson moved from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Chattanooga and has never left.
“There are people all over the world who want to ride on a train and, like me, many of them will come here and maybe even stay here if we had more train service,” Olson said.
Local train enthusiasts hope to tap into that market from both tourists and local commuters with a new light-rail passenger train route proposed to be added from the TVRRM to downtown and out to Enterprise South.
Ron Harr, the president of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce who first rode a train to Chattanooga when he was only 14, said the Scenic City is in a unique position to capitalize on the renewed interest in light rail transport. In a luncheon speech to the Chattanooga Engineers Club Monday, Harr dubbed the new route “Choo Choo 2.0” and insisted the city has both the name recognition and rail infrastructure for success without having to spend as much as most cities would for a light rail system.