(The following article by Chris Dumond was posted on the Hamilton Journal-News website on September 19.)
CINCINNATI — With measurable public support and federal funding legislation in the works, the movement for an Ohio passenger rail network is gaining steam after being batted around for years.
Surveys and public hearings held by the Ohio Rail Development Commission across the state from September 2004 to May showed that more than three quarters of the participants would use service connecting Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland.
The larger network proposed by the commission could include Ohio’s Great Lakes cities and Detroit, with connections to other systems to the west and to the northeast.
Rail supporters say the system is needed to take some of the passenger and freight burden off Ohio’s increasingly congested highways. Fares, though higher than passenger rail systems like Amtrak, would be comparable to fuel and maintenance costs for an automobile. And unlike Amtrak, the system is expected to pay for itself.
While many local officials support the concept of passenger rail, there is a degree of skepticism about projections of high ridership.
“If it will get cars off the roads and help ease congestion, then that’s a good thing,” said Chris Petrocy, spokesman for the Butler County Engineer’s Office. “But, will people embrace it? We don’t live in an area where light rail, subways, et cetera, have been a way of life. For it to work, you are looking at promoting a change in the way people think about transportation.”
The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, charged with evaluating whether local transportation projects should be given federal aid, helped facilitate some of the local Rail Development Commission meetings, but has not taken a stand on the project.
The $3 billion question remains where to find funding for the system’s construction.
Depending on how fast the trains run – between 79 mph and 110 mph – the cost to build the system varies between $2.6 billion and $3.3 billion. The line between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati – expected to be the heaviest traveled and first built – is estimated to cost about $1.2 billion.
Spokesman Stuart Nicholson said the Ohio Rail Development Commission funding plan calls for 80 percent of the cost to be paid by the federal government with a 20 percent local match.
While there is no federal funding program in play to provide the 80 percent portion, three bills related to passenger rail funding are before Congress.
Two of the bills, sponsored by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Sen. Trent Lott, R.-Miss., would address funding and reform for Amtrak, the nationwide federally-subsidized passenger rail service.
A third bill, sponsored by Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Railroad Subcommittee, would establish a federal rail infrastructure development fund. Nicholson said hearings on the LaTourette bill could begin this week.
Unlike Amtrak, the Ohio passenger rail system is expected to be self-sustaining.
Tickets would cost 24 to 37 cents per mile, similar to the federal government’s standard automobile mileage reimbursement rate. A one-way ticket between Cincinnati and Cleveland is estimated to cost $95.
The Cincinnati-Cleveland line is expected to be the most profitable line because of high ridership projections of 1 million to 2 million passengers per year, according to the commission.
The commission will conduct a federally required environmental impact study that will help determine station locations, route frequencies and the needs of existing rail infrastructure.
Nicholson said the commission will also go before the State Controlling Board next month to get approval for funding for a detailed economic impact study to determine what segments of Ohio’s economy will benefit from the railroad system and by how much in terms of actual dollars, new business and job creation.