This would be great!

I am not looking to pick a fight, I just really want to understand why it would be good for this to be in east TN.
When I read the article I got a real big case of the warm and fuzzy feelings.

Then Steve Earle's song Christmas in Washington started playing in my head.

And then I sent the link off to my other half. Once a railroader- always a railroader- no matter how many years it has been since your union job was outsourced.

I understand the jobs this yard would bring with it. Perhaps I understand this better than most. Not a week goes by that this pc is not used to search the railroad retirement board to look at job vacancies. That is when reality sets in.

Where ever this yard is placed it will bring with it some jobs and a host of new problems. Not the least of which will be air quality and increased truck traffic. Keep in mind it is not just a yard but intermodal- a yard to connect trucks to trains to trucks to WallyWorld.

I think this would boost business here for sure!

Hmmm...wonder where the Maryland yard is going? Around Hagerstown, I suppose.

Keep in mind it is not just a yard but intermodal- a yard to connect trucks to trains to trucks to WallyWorld.

But isn't this a good thing? I've long been an advocate of resurrecting America's rail systems to move freight, with truck being used only for local/regional deliveries.

This would be a LOT more efficient than moving everything by truck. And the Interstates would be less crowded with big trucks. Maybe the Teamsters won't like it, but maybe it will make more jobs for railroaders, who knows.

Either way, it's good for the environment. And East TN has a well established warehousing/distribution economy because of its proximity to a huge percentage of the U.S. population and the intersection of I-75 and I-40. This seems like it would only enhance that.

There will always be freight (at least until we burn out and go back to a tribal/local/agrarian/hunter/gatherer economy), and it will always have to be moved. More efficient ways to move it make sense.

Those are my thoughts on it anyway.

I'm hoping for shorter hauls for truckers. Less truck traffic on the interstates.

I am just going to pull a NIMBY on behalf of where ever this lands. Because those folks will not see any reduced volume of truck traffic. They will see a huge increase in such traffic.

Proper placement is the key. In that regard- there will be no hearings, no citizen imput. The RailRoads always get what the railroads want, where they want it, how they want it.

Be careful what you wish for.

Granted, Mello, there may be an isolated local increase in truck traffic near the intramodal station, so finding a workable location near the interstate and the train line will be critical. But I doubt that there will be much of an overall increase in truck traffic in Knoxville as a whole, given the existing confluence of I-40, I-75, and I-80 which already has half the truck traffic in the mid-South coming through here.

If even 20% of that traffic gets on the train before they get here and then travels on through, we could even see a decrease in overall traffic. While the other new transfer station mentioned in the story may not help much, there should be other existing stations on the same line which would see increased business with the improvements to the corridor.