IMAGINE GETTING ON A TRAIN in Cleveland and arriving in Columbus for a meeting — relaxed, rested, and prepped for your presentation. Or your football game, or your night on the town. No more staring through the windshield at long, dreary stretches of I-71 in Richland and Morrow County.
That’s already a reality for travelers from Boston to Washington, D.C. There, an Amtrak passenger train travels the so-called Northeast Corridor, delivering riders to New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore at the same average speed as driving — if you weren’t sitting in traffic — and occasionally reaching speeds up to 150 mph. The service debuted in December 2000 and has proved popular in the densely populated region, where driving and parking are perpetual challenges.
But would it work here? The last passenger trains connecting Ohio cities were phased out in 1971, and Ohio is now the most densely populated state whose cities aren’t connected by rail. (Cleveland, Toledo, and Cincinnati are pass-throughs on interstate Amtrak routes.) With intercity bus service shrinking and airfares for short trips expensive, rail could provide the only transportation option between Ohio cities for those who don’t or can’t drive, and offer a low-cost, less stressful alternative to driving for commuters, businesspeople, tourists, and college students.
So there was rejoicing among Ohio rail supporters in January when it was announced that the state had been awarded $400 million of the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds earmarked for intercity rail across the country. Last October, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC), with strong support from Governor Ted Strickland, sought the funding to build the “3C” Corridor, linking Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton, with trains projected to be running by 2012.
Such a project had long been discussed among rail advocates, and in July 2007, ODOT and ORDC issued a study, begun about two years earlier, for what it was calling the “Ohio Hub,” intended to link not only Ohio cities, but to connect Ohio to rail systems in Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and Ontario. At the time, the concept had strong bipartisan support. But it remained a pipedream until the stimulus money jolted it from the realm of theory to reality.
But that award was also met with opposition from the Ohio Contractors Association, the Ohio Trucking Association, and the Ohio Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association — all of them highway-dependent groups — as well as conservative politicians concerned about potential extra costs. Among their criticisms: Building a rail line will require expensive state subsidies and will never be self-supporting, and train speeds will be so slow and they will run so infrequently that they won’t attract ridership. Besides, they add: Nobody in Ohio wants to ride trains anyway.
These arguments frustrate Ken Prendergast, executive director of the nonprofit group All Aboard Ohio, the leading advocate for expansion of rail travel in Ohio. In “3C Corridor Mythbusters,” posted on its website, the group responds to accusations like “Ohio’s 3C corridor is too slow to succeed,” “Ohio should sidetrack this train for high-speed rail,” and “If 3C made so much sense, it wouldn’t need a subsidy.”
Prendergast sighs as he rebuts these charges, one by one. You can tell he’s been over this before.
“The 39 mph speed [in the preliminary study] was a worst-case scenario,” he says. “The normal cruising speed is 79 mph. Your average travel time with stops from Cleveland to Cincinnati would be about five to five and a half hours.” (By car, the same trip takes about four hours.)
He points out that no region has gone from having no intercity rail at all — Ohio’s current situation — to high-speed rail instantly. In fact, this phase of the project, which would operate trains on existing freight rail lines, is dubbed “Quick Start.” People have to get acclimated to train travel, he says. “You don’t build a train with 12 round trips a day in a state built around a car culture. You have to develop the culture.”
While the federal government is providing the $400 million to build the 3C Corridor, Ohio will have to find money to subsidize its long-term operations — an amount estimated to run about $17 million annually. That would come from the Ohio Department of Transportation, whose annual budget now approaches $4 billion, almost all of it dedicated to maintaining the state’s roadways.
“ODOT spends $12 million a year just cutting grass along the freeways,” says Prendergast, suggesting rail maintenance would represent no more than a sliver of the annual budget. According to ODOT’s own projections, he says, the operating cost of Ohio’s highway system will grow by hundreds of millions of dollars in the next decade — and that only half of that is likely to be covered by user fees like gas taxes. The rest will be subsidized by general revenue — i.e., Ohio taxpayers.
State Representative Kenny Yuko of Richmond Heights is a believer in intercity rail — and casino gambling. “I call it the 3C: Cleveland casino, Columbus casino, Cincinnati casino,” he says. “It promotes tourism within the state. It will encourage travelers not only for business, but for leisure. They can see the Indians one day and the Reds the next; they can come visit the art museum or hear the Cleveland Orchestra. Older people who might not drive can come to the Cleveland Clinic.
“We need to realize that this is an economic development tool,” he says. “It’s going to create locations that have been unused so far that now have potential for building. There are so many positives and so little negative. The biggest negative factor we have in Ohio are people’s attitudes — when people walk around and say this is going to fail.”
But critics claim there’s more than just homespun Ohio pessimism at play.
State Senator Tom Patton of Strongsville isn’t opposed to rail: He helped prevent Governor Bob Taft from closing the Ohio Rail Development Corporation in 2003, and he would like to see commuter light rail expanded in urban areas. But the chairman of the Senate’s Highways and Transportation Committee says it’s all about the money. He doesn’t believe there’s a demand for intercity passenger rail that would justify the cost. He doesn’t trust that the rail system can be built for $400 million, and he doesn’t trust the projected operating subsidy of $17 million. He thinks it’s going to cost Ohio taxpayers a lot more.
He cites a 2007 National Highway Transportation Board study that showed it would cost $660 million to build passenger rail in Ohio, based on 2002 construction and material costs. “So where is the state of Ohio, which is $8 billion in the hole as of next year, going to find another $260 million to build it?” he asks.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” counters Prendergast. “If anyone did a study back then, it was on the back of an envelope, and there was no engineering study done. I collect studies. I’ve got a drawer full of these things. For him to refer to such a study has as much credibility as me asking my six-year-old kid. That’s the whole hypocrisy of these guys, which tells me their motivation comes from other places.”
Prendergast says that ODOT/ORDC’s 2007 Ohio Hub study did contain a cost projection of around a billion dollars — for a much more extensive system than is currently being proposed.
But Patton also believes that, unlike the Eastern seaboard, Ohio doesn’t have the necessary supporting factors.
“You have to have a major hub that is automobile-unfriendly and parking-impossible,” he says. “People that live in Virginia and Maryland that work in Washington all take the train. Same thing for people that live in Connecticut — they’ll take trains into New York. But even those trains are subsidized. Geography plays a big part in whether rail is successful. It will never be in Ohio. [Rail advocates] are still looking for a target market they haven’t been able to uncover.”
But he also points to something that is often the focus of resistance: “We’ve got hundreds of billions invested in our interstate highway system. We’ve grown up with an interstate system, we’re highly reliant on an interstate system, and we like our cars.”
Ohio Senate President Bill Harris also opposes the project, citing cost, slow speeds, and the limited initial schedule. But he also likes cars: He founded a car dealership that’s still run by his sons.
Republican gubernatorial challenger John Kasich is no fan of rail either. His camp didn’t respond to interview requests for this story, but a news clip posted on his website about Ohio rail studies is headlined “Train Already Wasting Taxpayer Money.” And he said earlier this year that the $400 million Ohio received for rail would be better spent on Ohio’s roads and bridges.
But it can’t be: The funds are specifically attached to rail. If Kasich becomes governor in November and decides to kill the 3C project, Ohio’s money will go to other states. With California, Florida, and the Pacific Northwest, among others, ramping up to build their stimulus-funded routes, someone else will be waiting in line to take the money Ohio leaves on the table.
Whether or not that’s a good thing remains to be seen.
Send feedback to apantsios@clevescene.com.
This article appears in Jul 14-20, 2010.
LOL. The article fails to mention why large numbers of people will NEVER use a train…and it’s real simple: YOU NEED A CAR WHEN YOU GET TO YOUR DESTINATION. And car rentals are VERY EXPENSIVE (and the agents are rude). Also, how about families – doesn’t cost any more to drive 5 people in a car (or minivan) than 1 person – but try taking the train.
Of course this will FAIL. The only question is whether we want to GO BROKE figuring that out.
Yep. Just like air travel: You need a car when you get to your destination.
And you see how that works out — nobody flies anywhere. Right?
Take a look at how it works in other states. California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin all subsidize in-state or bi-state train service. There are currently 7 trains a day in each direction between Milwaukee and Chicago, and 5 trains per day in each direction between St. Louis and Chicago. Ever heard of Normal, IL? Their train station serves over 180,000 passengers per year. It takes traffic off the interstates and keeps the states from having to expand lanes. These states have budget problems, too, but they’re adding trains to schedules because it’s cost effective and popular.
Not only California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin one must also add in the Downeaster that runs from Boston to Exeter, NH and on to Portland, ME. In fact this service has been so popular that ME is looking at extending the service to Freeport and Bath, ME by 2012. Then there is North Carolina, New Mexico and Minnesota. Yes lots of other States have realized that people do ride trains and they do provide decent paying jobs for those that service the rail industry which turns out to be their state residents.
I ride trains thru Ohio often. Most of the time the train is jammed with people, and sold out! This is with middle of the night service once a day. It’s time we deceided how to travel not the oil, and highway lobby. Many people in this lobby live overseas and want to keep up buying their product, OIL.
Ken Prendergast is a shill for the special interest groups that want to haul in millions while they build 19th century technology that naive dupes like Prendergast think is futuristic. Supporting transportation infrastructure is needed for any train to work, especially slow ones like the 3-C, and Ohio doesn’t have them now and doesn’t have the money to build them going forward. Also, 79-mph is NOT high speed, which is why Kenny Boy tries to laugh it off, but the joke is on him. Speed attracts riders, pure and simple, slowness doesn’t. The 3-C is SLOW because the tracks are crappy, and quality of track equates to train speeds. And all this “it’s just preliminary…first phase” crap is just that, a bill of goods Ohio taxpayers will be footing indefinitely. It can also be argued that taking the train is more stressful than driving because of all the steps it takes to take the train, unlike a car or bus that more personal and private than a train, and far less costly. All the train stations for the 3-C, which the author failed to say, must be paid for locally, not through FRA money. Columbus only has a rail siding, not a train station, and Amtrak is a stickler about ADA compliant stations. Amtrak trains are too often delayed because they run on freight rail tracks, and the same will be true in Ohio. Thirty years from now, when the 3-C, as Prendergast would have you believe, is built out for billions [even though he cannot bring himself to admit that least his fantasy goes up in smoke], Ohio will look like the fool it is because highways – the transportation mode so heavily invested in because that’s what everyone uses – will be accommodating smart cars that will help reduce congestion while taking you to your destination, which 19th century train technology 3-C supporters cannot admit is status quo for their trains. And the U.S. Rail guy, his company was bought by Karl Ichan and might be built in Arkansas. No jobs for Ohio, as Prednergat and supporters said would happen. Mr. P refuses to acknowledge what everyone else knows: Rail is the most expensive form of transportation that delivers the least in the way of ROI or modal shift. If it is so great, where was Prendergast and his special interest backers for the last 40 years, asleep at the switch while Ohio let passenger rail go bye-bye? California’s true high-speed system [at $100M/mile] will never be built, no matter how many more billions the feds give them, because it will cost $80 billion or more. No amount of studies will make the 3-C go any faster, or get there any quicker. Ohio is dreaming of the past when it should be visioning the future. Ted Strickland, with help from Prendergast, will be run over in November by a slow train to the past that only a few, who stand to benefit personally from it, really want and will use. If Prendergast wants to put his money on the table, fund the 3-c with user fees, not taxes, and he’s got a deal. But that would be the real kiss of death for his Hooterville snail train. It is a far, far better thing to do, to give the $400M to a state who’s really building high speed trains, than to spend it here on this boondoggle so Ohio becomes forever shackled with operating debt into the distant future.
Think were we’d be now if cities had not torn-out all the old street-car and rail lines from long ago. By now those lines would have had massive improvements and up-grades and the system or network would still be in-place, but the autos and trucks came into the picture and ridership fell off, so the killed the rails off.
Do a little site seeing on the Google Satellite maps around Cinci area, all the photos pop-up of the abandon planed rail lines and tunnels that were killed off during the 2nd world war, the need for steel and iron during the war.
Kind a step back in time, yet you have to wonder what it would be like today if it didn’t die.
Posted by Johnny Springfield: “Ohio will look like the fool it is because highways – the transportation mode so heavily invested in because that’s what everyone uses – will be accommodating smart cars that will help reduce congestion while taking you to your destination, which 19th century train technology 3-C supporters cannot admit is status quo for their trains.”
Actually those 19th Century trains already have “smart control” technology; unlike the 19th Century cars. In fact, those 19th Century trains have evolved far more than those 19th Century cars have.
Posted by Johnny Springfield: “Speed attracts riders, pure and simple, slowness doesn’t.”
Yes, no doubt that explains why the Downeaster had 460,000 riders last year, because it goes a whopping 79 MPH. And the Downeaster’s northern anchor city is tiny Portland, Maine population 63,011.
Posted by Johnny Springfield: “unlike a car or bus that more personal and private than a train, and far less costly.”
Sorry, but wrong again. According to the National Transit Database, on average in this country it costs 40 cents to move 1 passenger 1 mile on commuter rail and heavy rail (subways and El’s) in this country. To do the same job with light rail & streetcars it costs 60 cents.
To move 1 person 1 mile on a bus costs 80 cents. And that amount does not include fixing the damage that all those buses cause to our roads and highways. That expense falls squarely on the shoulders of the taxpayer.
By the way, also according to the NTD, on average the bus rider pays 26.3% of the costs associated with their trip. Rail riders on average pay 52.8% of their costs.
How come Ohio politicians are talking about the $17M this train service might lose (connecting the three largest cities), but NO ONE is talking about the $8B that ODOT wants to spend on about 8 miles of freeway in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnnati?
Just a small piece of that ODOT money ($500M) is being spend on one bridge – a mile long over the Cuyahoga River on I-90. And that is just the west bound lanes. Talk about waste and stupidity.
Excuse me, Ohio has sold its soul to the auto interests long ago………
Michael Koch
Medina
“And you see how that works out — nobody flies anywhere. Right?”
Actually – you are RIGHT. Practically no one does fly from Cleveland to Columbus, or other short hops, as it cost MUCH MORE and takes MUCH LONGER than driving…and that is what this article is about. So, thank you – always appreciate it when others help me make my point.
As to people flying from Cleveland to Denver – yep, they certainly do – but then who the heck is going to spend 48 hours on a train to get there? Other than some rich old people with LOTS OF MONEY and LOTS OF TIME to kill.
I also got a kick about these proposed trains running on Freight Lines – I seriously doubt most of these peaches-and-herb types whining at me have EVER ridden an Amtrak that goes on those lines. Well, I have some news – THEY SUCK. They are really slow (usually due to lack of maintenance) and really rough – tossing you from side to side. Unlike you flower-children, I have ridden on them out here in the Midwest and would rather be waterboarded than forced to ride on them again.
Dear Gotrocks, in a few years, most of the short distance if not most of the air service will be GONE–not bankrupt–GONE! Why? Because they use too much oil. They are in decline now. The next service cuts will come with the mergers in the industry, a hopeless industry! Buses use public roads, public terminals (so they don’t pay for heating, and real estate taxes) and get grants to operate. Many of the discount bus lines use Amtrak stations! I’ve even been told they don’t have to pay road taxes!! Doesn’t matter anyway. They get grants for fixed route services. I hope you don’t have to ride Amtrak or any other popular rail line. That way I can get your seat! They are very popular, you know. The trains do sell out today, even in a recession. That’s why this is coming up. Sorry about your bad trips it’s still more comfortable than flying or driving. And don’t forget that your wonderful highway system in the begining was paid for in part by railroad ticket taxes(!!) until 1965! And real estate taxes!! Amtrak even pays fuel taxes, as do NS and CSX. These taxes are added to general funds and spent on roads and airports. I would doubt anyone in coach on the Lake Shore Limited is very rich. A lot of cities and towns are losing their air and bus service and Amtrak can be the only way. Amtrak’s been breaking ridership records for years. You don’t know this? Very soon, if the Republicans get back in, we could get the draft back. That way we’ll have the troops to fight for this oil…or are we over there for the dates and figs? The highway lobby is not worried that this project might be a failure; but, rather, that it might be a success!
if you put trains in it will cut down in dui
I really appreciate Pantsios’ balanced story, and found it interesting that one of the 3C rail lines main opponents is a staunch Republican whose family business is — surprise — a car dealership (and apparently not concerned that an Ohio Republican government initiated getting a grant for the 3C service years ago in the first place).
Also, I’d like to point out that one of the main features of this start-up rail system — one of the most economical of its kind today — that slow track upgrades will enable the passenger trains to eventually cruise up to 110 miles per hour.
The system will do more than connect one of the most densely populated states in the country. There will be a stop connecting to Hopkins Airport, thus strengthening its hub status (just check out the growing trend for air/rail partnerships in New York); Amtrak is upgrading its east-west service to high speed and will improve Cleveland’s schedules for thru-service from Columbus (among the largest U.S. cities with NO passenger rail service) to Boston, D.C., NYC and Chicago; and offer an alternative for the overfllowing passenger bus ridership right now.
Ohio is always screaming about attracting and keeping a well-educated new generation of citizens, so the 3C seems like a good place to start, especially considering the cost is but a fraction of billions of dollars annually spent on Ohio highways. I only shutter thinking about what the cost of adding a new lane to I-71 would be if current traffic increases at its current rate.
Finally, because I hate the tyranny of driving hours to Columbus or Cincy, especially during inclimate weather, traffic backups, construction, etc., I have often taken the bus and then used local transportation, which is suprisingly doable for anyone with the wherewithal to look up schedules on a Web site.
A system like the proposed 3C has worked in much less likely passenger-rail candidates than Ohio. People really need to check it out.
If nothing else, check out these numbers: U.S. Department of Commerce studies indicate investments in passenger rail result in as many as 8,000 to 11,000 jobs, and spark business and economic development opportunities for years to come.
I’d much rather sit on a train watching movies on my iPod than sit in traffic watching the miles rack up and the gas go down. We need expanded commuter rail in Ohio.
http://www.finitejest.com/post/205894745/h…
Ever heard of MegaBus? (private sector)
Covers much of the same territory, with AC and WiFi at your seat or a table game if you’re game. All for $1-$45 a ride. (Yes, $1!, I’ve gone from Terminal Tower to Chicago’s Union Station for $1 a half-dozen times in the two years since MegaBus started) And, its a lot easier to change schedules and add destinations as demand changes, all at NO COST to the taxpayer.