In December, the Federal Railroad Administration announced the first 69 grant recipients in a program, which will expand passenger rail service across the United States. Shown in a poll administered by the Rail Passengers Association, the desire for passenger trains is growing within the United States.
“I’d really like to be able to travel on a train across the country,” said sophomore Adalyn Zuber.
This program by the FRA is aimed to connect the country through new railway routes. Ohio specifically is a state which benefits greatly from the funding for this program.
Four proposed railway routes in Ohio have received funding from the FRA’s grant. Two of these new routes connect through Cleveland, linking the city to Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati in one route, and linking the city to Detroit, via Toledo, in the second route.
The other rail service route’s that received grants would be a new route connecting Columbus to both Chicago and Pittsburgh, and expansion of an existing route that would link Chicago to New York City through Cincinnati.
“Good Amtrak service shouldn’t be a privilege only for people on the coasts”, said Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown in an announcement regarding the expansion. “These new routes would expand opportunity, help grow businesses and create jobs, and connect communities in Ohio and across the Midwest,” Brown said.
However, the initial funding received won’t immediately go towards construction of the new rail service routes. Each proposed route was given $500,000, which will go towards the planning phases of the projects.
The planning of each project is divided into three phases. By the end of all the phases, which will take an estimated 18 months to three years, each route will be finished being designed and infrastructure work to create the lines will begin. William Murdock, executive director of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, provided this estimate.
“As far as transportation timelines, this is actually really fast,” said Murdock in an interview with Mass Transit Magazine.
Though these four routes received grants for planning, there is still no guarantee that they will reach the final construction phase. Depending on the final cost of construction or how competitive train travel times will be to simply driving, the Ohio projects could be canceled.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is an open supporter of Amtrak expansion, however, only if the train travel times can compete with driving the same distance. Travel time isn’t predicted to be a large problem.
Murdock has stated before that the trains would travel about 79 miles per hour, which would put the trip at a very similar time to driving by car. The train service may experience some delays, though, as stops in various Ohio cities are also predicted to be involved in the creation of the railway.
The push for passenger rail service expansion is a commonly held desire, as transportation via train will benefit various groups of people. From college students and tourists, to sports fans and those going on business trips, having another option for travel then driving or flying would be convenient.
There would also be an environmental benefit to passenger train expansion, as many who may before have driven along the routes could choose to take the rail service. This would lessen the amount of people traveling via personal transportation, and, if enough people ditch their cars for the rail service, potentially lessen the emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gasses.
Even with no solid guarantee that these proposed rail services will come to fruition, receiving funding is a step in the right direction towards further passenger transportation across the state and country.
