Discussion about a possible return of passenger rail service to Bowling Green has been swirling for several years as Amtrak is studying a potential expansion.

The City of Bowling Green is now asking for resident input on whether they would use such a service.

An online survey “is to gauge interest to see how many of our residents and visitors would be interested in the service,” said City of Bowling Green Public Information Officer Debi Highland West.

The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FW3G69K.

In 1979, passenger rail service stopped in Bowling Green after more than a century. Amtrak’s “Floridian” service, which provided twice-daily trips from Chicago to Florida, was a casualty of federal budget cuts. The last passenger train at the L&N Depot, for decades among the most bustling locations in all of southcentral Kentucky, pulled out of the Depot on Oct. 6, 1979.

The years since have seen several unsuccessful attempts to bring such service back.

But President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill of 2021 included about $80 billion to expand passenger rail service. As a result, the Federal Railroad Administration has been conducting a Daily Long-Distance Service Study on how and where to expand since 2022.

Some proposed new routes, such as Chicago to Miami and Detroit to New Orleans, include a stop in Bowling Green. Other proposed plans do not include the city.

But before residents start planning a train trip from Bowling Green, there are numerous unknowns. Perhaps the biggest is the fate of Amtrak funding under the incoming Trump administration.

A second unknown is the willingness of CSX to allow Amtrak the use of its tracks through Bowling Green.

When the possibility was first discussed in 2022, CSX issued the following statement to the Daily News:

“CSX is not against the introduction of new passenger service and in fact hosts more passenger service in densely populated areas than any other railroad,” according to the statement. “But it must be done in a safe and efficient manner which considers the impact to communities and freight rail operations. For decades, the standard practice in the industry has included the completion of a Rail Traffic Controller (RTC) study to assess the impacts of new or expanded passenger service on freight customers and communities to determine what infrastructure may be required to accommodate that service. CSX looks forward to learning more about the potential for proposed service once an actual proposal is received.”