Music City Star
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The Music City Star is a commuter rail service running between Nashville and Lebanon, Tennessee. The service uses the existing trackage of the Nashville and Eastern Railroad. The line currently has six stops: Nashville Riverfront Station (western terminus), Donelson, Hermitage, Mt. Juliet, Martha (Hwy 109 & Hwy 70), and Lebanon (eastern terminus). The operation covers 32 miles (52 km) of rail line. Service began on September 18, 2006.
The Star is considered a "starter" project to demonstrate the effectiveness of commuter rail service to the metro Nashville area. Expansion plans include four more lines, terminating in Gallatin, Franklin, Murfreesboro and Dickson. All are planned to use existing CSX Transportation railroad lines.
The Star's locomotives are F-40 locomotives that were previously used by Amtrak. The passenger cars were acquired through federal transfer of interest from Chicago's Metra commuter rail system, originally built in the 1960's and rebuilt between 1999 and 2000.
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.
