ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Daniel Van Epps is on an unusual mission — and so far he thinks he’s on the right track, the Zanesville Times Recorder reported.
Van Epps, a doctoral candidate from West Virginia University, has been traveling to area counties to discuss an issue concerning a rail line.
The Dover resident presented a packet of information concerning the Panhandle Rail Line to the Muskingum County Commissioners Monday. He asked them to consider sending a resolution to the Ohio Rail Development Commission to request the commission to study the issue of privatizing the rail line before it is sold.
“I am asking the commissioners to make a resolution to send to the ORDC to ask it to study other options than privatizing it,” Van Epps said.
The Panhandle Rail Line runs from Pittsburgh to Columbus, with part of that line running through Muskingum, Coshocton, Tuscarawas and Licking counties. The ORDC is looking to sell the line to Ohio Central Railroad in Coshocton. A value won’t be determined until an independent appraisal.
Van Epps is proposing the rail line shouldn’t be sold to a private company, but rather opened for access to all companies, similar to the freedom of interstate highways. He thinks this would be a better option economically, and wants the ORDC to fund a study to look at this as an option.
“No one company owns the highway. What if we make a rail line similar to that where it would be open to all? This way no one company is profiting from it, but all companies could have access to it and be able to ship their goods,” he said.
It is his opinion the ORDC does not have enough information or data to make a sound judgment that privatizing is the best option.
Van Epps has already met with commissioners in Coshocton and Tuscarawas counties and said he felt good about the response he got, especially from Tuscarawas. He meets later this week with Licking County commissioners.
“We can certainly talk about it,” said Ed Kenily, county commissioner, after hearing Van Epps presentation.
The commissioners asked questions of Van Epps about the line itself, and accepted his information packet to look over.
James Seney, ORDC executive director, said in the early 1990s the Ohio Department of Transportation and ORDC embarked on a program to protect the Panhandle line. The line was being abandoned and ORDC acquired the rights to it.
The Columbus and Ohio River Rail Road Company, an operating affiliate of the Ohio Central Railroad system won the bid to operate the line and built it back up, which is why the ORDC is looking to sell it to them.
“Now we are entering phase two of the project to return the line to the private sector,” Seney said.
Michael Connor, vice president of Ohio Central Railroad, said there were advantages to the company running the Panhandle line in all the counties affected.
“Worldwide, the best-run railroads are those where the ownership of the facilities and operation of the trains are done by the same organization,” Connor said. “The Ohio Central Railroad system is a neutral access system, allowing the big, class-1 railroads marketing access to all counties system-wide. Anytime you have a railroad offering service to the industrial and agricultural base of a community, it’s going to benefit that community.”
The ORDC is sending representatives to communities on the line and asking opinions and concerns. Seney said there are three major issues:
— The ORDC would reserve the right to step in quicker if the line would begin to fail, to avoid it being abandoned again.
— The state would reserve passenger rights on the line.
— Community needs would be met if access were needed for public utilities.
Seney said when the ORDC begins to negotiate with the Ohio Central Railroad, these issues would be written into the agreement. The money from the sale would be used by the ORDC to reclaim another abandoned rail line in the state and continue the process of making it an operable one.
He said he was aware of Van Epps’ efforts, but the ORDC is not in the business of testing socioeconomic theories. He said ORDC is charged by the state to protect rail lines, which is what it is doing in this case and will continue to do with lines across the state.