The former Memphis & Charleston, later Southern Railway, once started from Memphis Union Station (MP 552.3), on the north side of the east-west lines through downtown Memphis, accessed by a wye on that north side. Today's tracks on this segment (the east-west line) are owned by Union Pacific (former MoPac) and BNSF (former Frisco, from their respective bridges across the Mississippi River as far as KC Junction (MP 549.9 and MP 549.4), where the former Frisco turns south-southeast, with the former Southern alongside it to the east and the CSX (former Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis) continuing east to its Sargent Yard and beyond. The former Southern turns east, double track, unsignaled, Yard Limits, maximum speed 20 mph, past a former bridge over an erstwhile MoPac line, and a bridge over the Illinois Central freight line around the east side of the city, at the west end of Forrest Yard (MP 547.0).
The line reduces to single track, Traffic Control (CTC), briefly, and then Automatic Block Signals, Yard Limits, at Buntyn (MP 546.3), east end of the yard, becoming Track Warrant Control, ABS, at MP 545.0, with maximum speed 60 mph for intermodal and 50 mph for freight trains, with a 30 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 549.6 tp MP 542.3 and over street crossings from MP 546.0 to MP 542.2, jogging northeast and then east again, past a turn southeast and then east again, with a 40 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 542.3 to MP 540.8, after which full line speeds prevail, the 7,609 ft. south side siding (10 mph on the siding) at White Siding (MP 540.1), a turn southeast, east-southeast, south-southeast past a 35 mph speed restriction over street crossings from MP 539.6 to MP 535.9, a 50 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 538.0 to MP 535.4, Germantown (MP 537.2), and a detector at MP 536.3
There is a 45 mph speed restriction on curves, from MP 535.2 to MP 534.8, as the line turns east past Forest Hill, a 50 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 534.6 to MP 527.1, as the line turns southwest to Bailey and then just south of due east, past a 45 mph speed restriction over street crossings from MP 532.5 to MP 527.6, the 1,699 ft. north side siding (10 mph on the siding) at Collierville (MP 527.9), just north of due east, past a detector at MP 525.4, east to the 8,689 ft. north side siding (10 mph on the siding) from Peg to Rossville (MP 521.1), with a wye on the south side from Peg to Wolf (within the siding limits) connecting south into the Memphis Regional Intermodal Terminal, just north of due east past Hays and a detector at MP 516.4, curvily east with a 45 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 513.9 to MP 511.6, past Moscow, where an erstwhile branch once headed north, a turn south-southeast, a 40 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 510.1 to MP 508.4, a turn east-northeast, a 50 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 507.8 to MP 504.8, a turn east-southeast, past the 10,301 ft. south side siding (10 mph on the siding) at Rather (MP 505.4), and east past La Grange and a detector at MP 502.9.
The line has a 40 mph speed restriction over street crossings from MP 500.2 to MP 499.8, the junction (MP 500.0) with the Mississippi Central (former IC), trailing in at Grand Junction (MP 499.9), where an erstwhile IC line once continued northeast to Jackson, TN, and continues east past Saulsbury (MP 494.2), a 50 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 490.6 to MP 490.3, a detector at MP 490.2, a 40 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 490.1 to MP 489.1 as the line turns east-southeast, east-northeast, and east again, past Rogers Springs, east-northeast and then just south of due east, past a 45 mph speed restriction over street crossings, at MP 482.6, the junction with the KCS (former Gulf, Mobile & Northern), trailing in from the south at at MP 482.4, where the erstwhile GM&N used to continue north to Jackson, TN, the 8,937 ft. north side siding at Middleton (MP 480.6), and east-southeast past Pocahontas and a detector at MP 477.3.
There is a 50 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 474.4 to MP 472.8, Cypress, the 8,962 ft. north side siding (10 mph on the siding) at Chewalla (MP 466.3), a 50 mph speed restriction on curves from MP 465.1 to MP 464.8, as the line turns southeast, the border between Tennessee and Mississippi, a detector at MP 464.2, Wenasoga, a 40 mph speed restriction on curves, from MP 461.8 to MP 461.2, a 35 mph speed restriction over street crossings in Corinth, from MP 459.5 to MP 457.7, and the junction (southwest quadrant at MP 458.9) and flat crossing (25 mph on the crossing) with the Kansas City Southern (on the former Mobile & Ohio, which has been running on the same line as the former Southern all the way from Memphis, and at this point joins its former line from Jackson, TN, coming from the north) at Corinth (MP 458.8).