The Riverfront Loop is a line of the

Memphis Area Transit Authority The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is the public transportation provider for Memphis, Tennessee. It is one of the largest transit providers in the state of Tennessee; MATA transports customers in the City of Memphis and parts of Shelby C ...

trolley system. It began operation in 1997, as the second line in the system. It runs for through

downtown Memphis Downtown Memphis is the central business district of Memphis, Tennessee, and is located along the Mississippi River between Interstate 40 to the north, Interstate 55 to the south, and Interstate 240 (Tennessee), Interstate 240 to the east, where ...

and along the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

riverfront, with 18 stops along the way. It is the longest of the system's three lines, though it is concurrent with the Main Street Line for about half of its length. Part of the line offers panoramic views of the Mississippi River from atop to the

Chickasaw Bluffs The Chickasaw Bluff is the high ground rising about above the Mississippi River flood plain between Fulton in Lauderdale County, Tennessee and Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee. This elevation, shaped as four bluffs, is named for the Chic ...

. Trolley service on this line has been suspended since June 2014, after two trolley cars caught fire within a span of about six months. Buses have been serving the Riverfront Loop since then, but MATA plans to restore trolley operation to the line eventually. In September 2021, MATA was predicting that the line would reopen in late 2022, but as of December 2022 the service remained suspended, with no predicted date for the planned reopening.

Route description

As the line functions as a "loop" it does not have any termini. Running counterclockwise, from

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

in the South Main Arts District, it runs north along the eastern track of the Main Street Line. After following this line for , it splits off to the west just past A.W. Willis Avenue (formerly Auction Avenue). Passing over Front Street, it turns south and switches onto the western

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, the Great Lak ...

(IC) track toward the

Pyramid Arena The Memphis Pyramid, formerly known as the Great American Pyramid and the Pyramid Arena, and colloquially known as the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid, is a pyramid-shaped building located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, United States, at the bank of t ...

. The loop goes under the

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

bridge, emerging in front of the Cook Convention Center along the waterfront. Continuing along the IC tracks, it follows the riverfront until the tracks overlay Tennessee Street. Here, the loop continues along Tennessee eventually turning east onto GE Patterson Avenue. The loop is completed when it travels under the IC tracks in front of Central Station, and turns back onto South Main Street.

List of trolley stops

''between North End Terminal and Central Station counterclockwise''
''Note: Trolley service on the Riverfront Loop is temporarily suspended indefinitely; route is on detour using transit buses.''

References

External links

{{Tennessee public transit Memphis Area Transit Authority Railway lines opened in 1997