Amtrak expansion would include passenger rail service in Columbus again

The nation's passenger rail system, Amtrak, published maps showing potential route expansions throughout the country this week that included adding a stop in Columbus and expanding service in Ohio.

The map is part of Amtrak's pitch for federal infrastructure funding that would expand conventional rail service by more than 30 routes and as many as 20 million commuters by 2035. There were 32 million commuters who used Amtrak in fiscal year 2019.

The "three-C" corridor that has routes running between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland as part of that plan could connect 15 million people. The routes include a Cleveland to Cincinnati route running through Columbus and Dayton that would link the state's four largest metropolitan areas.

If there's enough political goodwill, a large investment in funding and the plan moves forward, it would be the first time Columbus has had a passenger rail line since 1979. The last line that ran through the city, dubbed the National Limited, took travelers from Kansas City to New York. The last train was described as "a proud old songstress taking her last curtain call," according to Dispatch archives.

Columbus is the second largest city in the nation by population without rail service.

The state is densely packed with railroad lines already — 5,188 miles, according to the Ohio Rail Development Commission.

Ohio ranks fourth in the country when it comes to having the most extensive network of active rail lines in the nation, just behind Texas, Illinois and California.

Establishing Columbus as a hub

Columbus City Council passed a resolution this week in support of the project in hopes of garnering Congressional support.

"Just getting that three-C line to come through here is a big deal. But because of our size, the connections we have with Chicago and Pittsburgh, and then growth along that corridor, I feel like it's important that we establish ourselves as a hub and create the opportunity for more than one line to come to Columbus," said Thea Ewing, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission director of transportation and infrastructure development.

The map published by Amtrak does not show a direct route between Columbus and Pittsburgh, but that's something MORPC is advocating for.

A plan outlined by the Biden administration has about $80 billion projected to upgrade and expand Amtrak's rail service across the country.

"It's an aspirational map. It's just our idea. There's other ideas out there," said Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak. "There's lots of interest in Columbus-Pittsburgh and lots of interest in Columbus to Fort Wayne (Indiana), and Chicago, for that matter."

On many of the company's routes, trains run at speeds of 79 mph, and on certain sections, trains go as fast as 150 mph, he said.

There are other sizeable cities without passenger rail service Amtrak is eyeing, including Las Vegas, Nashville and Phoenix. Amtrak also wants to expand service in cities with once-daily stops, which often are in the middle of the night, including Cincinnati, Houston and Atlanta.

"There's plenty of places where we've demonstrated that reliable and frequent and relevant Amtrak service can draw huge numbers, and those places aren't all in the Northeast," said Magliari.

"Between Chicago and Milwaukee, we carried almost 900,000 people a year pre-pandemic with seven round trips a day. You can't widen Interstate 94 enough to handle that volume, and there's existing rail infrastructure which has available capacity on it. So we're looking to (President Biden's) plan to enable some of this progress."

Details unclear

Proponents of the expansion have cited the environmental benefits of public transportation, which cuts down on single-car use and can be a more affordable method of transportation, giving passengers of varying means more equity.

In January, Amtrak sent letters to Congress asking for support. The passenger rail system has proposed covering "most of the initial capital and operating costs of new or expanded routes prior to requiring state partner cost-sharing under Sec. 209 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act," according to a copy of the letter. 

Magilari said additional details would be released later this month. 

Ken Prendergast, public affairs director for All Aboard Ohio, a nonprofit advocacy group for the railroad industry, said Amtrak made a presentation to its board in February. 

"What they're proposing is three round trips per day, three trains in each direction," he said.

The expansion is long overdue, Prendergast said. "Cleveland and Cincinnati both have stations, but they both serve in the middle of the night. So we are very much looking forward to train service that doesn't require five cups of coffee and an alarm clock."

The last time a rail passenger corridor in Ohio was considered was in 2010 when former President Obama's administration awarded the state $400 million for a high-speed passenger rail system. That project never took off. Instead former Gov. John Kasich returned the money saying that "every step should be taken to eliminate waste and prevent unnecessary spending," and reduce the federal deficit.  

The Ohio Rail Development Commission also is awaiting details of the latest plan from the Biden administration, said Executive Director Matthew Dietrich.

The commission, which has 15 members who meet every other month, was formed in the 1990s to address "non-regulatory matters related to rail transportation in Ohio," he said. That includes working with "railroads to improve access for companies seeking rail service or capacity increases on freight rail lines that have a public interest."

A majority of the state's rail lines are privately owned, and if existing lines are used, it would require negotiations with Amtrak to prevent freight service operations from being interrupted.

"If any new passenger rail services were to be sponsored by the state of Ohio, the state would be required to fund operating costs in excess of ticketing and other train revenues, as well as capital costs and allocated overhead (costs that are not directly attributable to a single service), according to the commission's Ohio Rail Plan, released in November 2019, the most recent version available.

The state rail plan goes on to say, "The state would also need to pay for "passenger rail service infrastructure improvements" for both passenger service and to prevent freight service from being interrupted.

Amtrak approached the commission with its federal expansion plan in January, Dietrich said. While the latest version of the state plan has a passenger component, "it's not a very active one at the current time," he said.

"We know that their plan would involve both statutory changes in funding requests at the federal level, for both the current and expanded passenger rail service, not only in Ohio, but around the country," Dietrich said. "The role of the states, in general, is not clear. We're not aware of any needed action by Ohio at the current time. We're really kind of in the wait-and-see mode."

bburger@dispatch.com

@ByBethBurger