“The most delicious of all privileges — spending other people’s money.” — 19th-century Virginia U.S. Sen. John Randolph
The Chattanooga City Council is expected to consider a resolution today applying for a $500,000 federal Corridor Identification and Development Program grant which would look into bringing passenger rail service back to the city.
The city was awarded a similar $500,000 grant from the same United States Department of Transportation program in December.
Those funds, it was said at the time, would be designated for a study to analyze the scope, cost and engineering requirements needed to establish passenger rail service operated by Amtrak on existing routes between cities.
Last month, the preliminary results of a recently released federal study by the Federal Railroad Administration suggested that two of 15 new routes could come through Chattanooga. One would connect the city on a Chicago to Miami route and the other on a Houston to New York City path.