Passenger train service could be returning to Louisville.

A proposed new Amtrak line would connect Kentucky's largest city to other major cities like India, Annapolis, Chicago and Washington, D.C.. Kentucky additions Kelsey Starks, who sat down with Louisville's chamber president to talk about the plan and what it could mean for the state.

Well, the plan is still in its early stages, but if it happens, the new line in Louisville would go to Indianapolis with a stop in Jeffersonville.

And from there it goes to routes to Chicago or Washington, DC, which connect to other major cities, too.

And Shelby Somerville is the vice president of government Affairs and Communications for Greater Louisville, Inc.

Thank you so much for being here and to explain kind of how this will all work.

This the plan was released in 2021.

So what stage are we in now?

Yeah, sure.

Well, thank you for having me here today.

The Amtrak plan was released in 2021, kind of in conjunction with the federal infrastructure package that was being talked about and eventually was passed and signed into law.

So there was funding in that for passenger rail service.

And that's why Amtrak kind of prompted this, because they knew there would be federal funds available.

Right now, we're still in the very early stages.

So the Federal Railroad Administration has a feasible study grant that we are going to apply for and the city and the to the regional planning organization.

And we are going to then see if we get that grant.

The feasibility study will be able to tell us what the operating cost would be, the maintenance, exactly how much it would cost at a local, state, federal level so that Kentucky can know what that match would look like and if it's actually feasible for our region.

So the applications for that are due at the end of March and then we should find out this summer if we get the grant for this study.

Okay.

So moving right along, but it's still slow.

Now, this isn't the first time Louisville used to have trains to go to Chicago.

Even some went to Miami.

So what is different in this plan and why do you think it will work this time?

And it never was sustainable in the past.

Sure.

So Louisville for a couple of years had the Kentucky cardinal line.

It started around 2001 and ended in 2003.

This is going to be very different from that.

That train only went about 30 miles per hour and it was one trip that was overnight.

So it left around 930.

I think you got into Chicago around 2:30 a.m..

There was no sleeper car, no food on the train.

Amtrak is really hoping to do multiple rides a day.

So they're hoping for four trips a day around 5 hours and 45 minutes.

So it is going to be driving time competitive, whereas the last train wasn't.

So it's going to be upgraded at all levels.

But I think the fact that it's driving time competitive and there are multiple trips a day makes it easier for commute, tourism, etc.. And talking about tourism, I mean, what do you all think?

Why why is this a good idea in your eyes?

I mean, any time that we can get more people into law, that's always a good idea.

It's really going to bolster our hospitality and our tourism industry and not only allow low aliens to get to neighboring cities, but to bring people in that may not visit if they had to drive.

So knowing that this is around, you know, they may say, let's go check out some of the bourbon trail or let's see what Louisville has to offer.

And so we can bring people in.

And that's kind of the first step to maybe even getting them to relocate here to show all that we have to offer.

So we're very excited about it.

Okay.

Well, it very well could happen.

We will keep our eyes on that.

That proposed new line would connect Louisville to Chicago through Indianapolis with those four daily roundtrips each about 5 hours and 45 minutes.

Not so bad.

The city will know if they get that grant later this summer, and then that feasibility study will take about a year.

Thank you, Kelsey.

We'll keep our eyes on that.

Louisville isn't the only city in the mix.

Amtrak's overall vision for expansion is to connect up to 160 communities across 25 states in the next 15 years.