Midwest Amtrak Expansion
For the first time in more than a decade federal transportation funding is back on the table for Ohio. This past week, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown announced the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has chosen four possible routes to implement corridor development plans. Each corridor will be provided $500,000 from the FRA for planning investments. Corridors receiving funds include;
Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati, OH (...the 3C+D Corridor)
Sponsored By: Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC)
Stops:
Cleveland, OH (city pop. 372,624)
Cleveland Hopkins Int’ Airport
Crestline, OH (pop. 4,488)
Delaware, OH (pop. 42,814)
Columbus, OH (city pop. 905,748)
Springfield, OH (pop. 58,662)
Dayton, OH (city pop. 137,644)
Sharonville, OH (pop. 13,987)
Cincinnati, OH (city pop. 309,513)
Cleveland, OH-Toledo, OH-Detroit, MI
Sponsored By: Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC)
Stops:
Cleveland, OH (city pop. 372,624)
Toledo, OH (city pop. 268,509)
Detroit, MI (city pop. 632,464)
Chatham, ON (city pop. 104,529)
Glencoe, ON (pop. 5,723)
London, ON (city pop. 422,324)
Toronto, ON (city pop. 2,794,356)
Chicago-Ft. Wayne, IN-Columbus, OH-Pittsburgh, PA (…the Midwest Connect Corridor)
Sponsored By: Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC)
Stops:
Chicago (city pop. 2,746,388)
Gary, IN (pop. 68,325)
Valparaiso, IN (pop. 34,428)
Plymouth, IN (pop. 10,384)
Warsaw, IN (pop. 15,865)
Ft. Wayne, IN (city pop. 265,974)
Lima, OH (pop. 35,868)
Kenton, OH (pop. 7,951)
Marysville, OH (pop. 26,223)
Columbus, OH (city pop. 905,748)
Columbus Int’ Airport
Newark, OH (pop. 50,383)
Coshocton, OH (pop. 11,043)
Newcomerstown, OH (pop. 3,668)
Uhrichsville, OH (pop. 5,217)
Steubenville, OH (pop. 17,962)
Pittsburgh, PA (city pop. 302,971)
Furthermore, the Amtrak-lead final planning corridor consists of increasing service frequency from 3 days a week to one a day on Amtrak’s Cardinal service running through Cincinnati. Something that is sorely needed for the region. Consequently, Cincinnati Union Station currently sits cruelly underused; so it would be great to see better service brought back to the city and the depot. Cleveland too would get a boost on service frequencies; adding 3 daily roundtrips to the week on its Detroit route and 2 daily roundtrips in the week for the Cleveland-NYC route. Let’s clean up the abysmal state of passenger rail frequencies in Ohio’s biggest cities! Fortunately, along with priority in future funding competitions. These projects will receive priority funding in the FRA’s Federal-State Partnership National (FSP-N) Program to the amount of $2.4 billion a year through 2026 being available for use under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Regionally, the midwest as a whole has its rail transport propositions. Largely underutilized in regional passenger rail travel; the Midwest Connect Corridor offers a novel solution to a lack of an efficient, reliable regional passenger rail network. Connecting the large cities of Chicago, Ft. Wayne, Columbus, and Pittsburgh on a 17 station line; this proposal brings back a passenger route that hasn’t seen service since the mid-70s. Unlike the Amtrak projects; this project is sponsored by the respective state transportation planning commissions. This allows for easy collaboration as each state commission got involved with their land along the line. Along the Ohio part of the route, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) and The Northern Indiana Passenger Rail Association (NIPRA) mapped out the CSX railroad snaking its way from Chicago to Pittsburgh while making a decent amount of stops in northern Indiana and central Ohio. Making this route the perfect railroad to pair up with Amtrak’s proposed 3C+D corridor. Creating a transportation hub for Ohio capital, Columbus.
Glossed up maps and studies aside; we’ve been through this before. The state of Ohio has been trying to connect its three largest cities by passenger rail for almost two decades now. Recent policies dating back to the mid-2000s with the failure of the Ohio Hub Project; Ohio has had a recent history of the last 15 (or so) years ignoring state passenger rail infrastructure and services. Though that has been the case, this recent investment marks a shift to focusing on our access to the safe and frequent right of mobility that connects communities sustainably.
The last time passenger service ran on a direct Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati line was 1967 when the Penn Central’s Ohio State Limited service rode that route. Columbus, Ohio’s last passenger rail service of any kind closed down in 1979; 44 years ago. Over in northwest Ohio; a proposed Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit corridor provides a direct connection between Toledo and Detroit for the first time since the early 60s. Even since 2004; Toledo hasn’t been served by the regional Amtrak system. Further Amtrak expansion has a proposal of connecting Detroit and Toronto meaning, maybe in the near future, you could take a direct passenger rail service from Toledo to Toronto. Further service west to Chicago from Detroit has been proposed a la Amtrak’s ‘Wolverine’ route through Michigan. Anyway, it is safe to say some of these routes haven’t seen a passenger in more than half a century. At this moment, however, a mostly-united federal response to upgrading transportation infrastructure has been taking place. A response that can be a great asset and bring back once-forgotten rail services.
Article Sources //
https://media.amtrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/3CD-Corridor-Fact-Sheet-05-17-Final.pdf
https://www.wxyz.com/news/amtrak-proposal-would-connect-detroit-toronto-by-train
https://www.abc57.com/news/railway-connecting-chicago-to-columbus-gets-federal-funding
https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/maps/cleveland-columbus-cincinnati/
https://morpc.org/2023/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RSTI-FOLIO_EXISTING-CONDITIONS_FINAL.pdf
