Former Knoxville City Councilman Joe Hultquist says it would use already existing tracks and come at a fraction of the cost seen in other cities.

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — A Knoxville man wants to create a passenger rail system that would connect Knoxville to the airport and onto Maryville.

It would travel about 16 miles and use the existing Norfolk Southern rail line.

Joe Hultquist says his vision could unleash growth in Knoxville never seen before.

"When cities put in a system like that, you see phenomenal impacts," Hultquist said.

It's a rail system, using track that's already in place, to connect downtown Knoxville with McGhee-Tyson Airport and then Maryville.

"I've been thinking about this for a long time," Hultquist said.

Hultquist is the CEO of Transit Alliance of East Tennessee and a former Knoxville City Councilman.

He's recently talked to city officials in Alcoa and Maryville about the possibility of a light rail and said he's reaching out to Knoxville and Knox County.

He said the areas around train stations would be attractive for new businesses and residential areas.

"When the opportunities are there to do high-quality developments, they often happen, and they happen at a scale that really impacts the greater community," Hultquist said.

A bill sponsored by Knox County representative Bill Dunn would give communities the option to create business districts that can be taxed to help maintain the train system.

"It definitely won't happen this year, things still need to come together," Dunn said. "It's just really to layout the possibility and to set up in the Tennessee code a way for this to happen -- to figure out where you'd put the stops along the way and how it would be paid for."

Norfolk Southern would have to be on board as well.

"They're willing to talk," Hultquist said. "They haven't made any commitments yet. It's got to make economic and operational sense for them."

Hultquist even got a deal on rail cars.

A private company bought them for $10,000 a piece from the transportation authority in San Diego.

He said it'll save millions of dollars.

Hultquist said they're hoping to have some of the rail cars up from San Diego in the next few months to show them off, and show people what can happen.

Hultquist said the project would mostly rely on investors.