Ohio Intercity Rail System (Columbus, Cleveland: how much, house, live)

[RuralGuy]

What does everyone think about the proposed passenger rail system to link Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati? Do enough people in each of these cities regularly travel to the others so that such a rail system would be warranted? The I-71 corridor that presently connects these cities is quite busy, but how many Clevelanders make Cincinnati or Columbus a travel destination and vice versa?

If the Ohio plan were joined by a continued rail route south, perhaps all the way to Tampa, FL or Miami (following the I-75 corridor through Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida), I think the interest in rail travel would be much more substantial. Presently, anyone who wants to travel south by rail from Ohio (and only from Cleveland and Cincinnati--Columbus has no rail service now) either has to head to Chicago first (a 10+ hr train trip from Cincinnati) or go way east to Virginia before they can pick up a southbound line.

Amtrack's current routes are shown here: http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/national.pdf

[jlrosen]

I think it is a great idea. For trips of this distance rail is airline competitive. It is worth noting that it will also tie in with an upgraded Cincy-Chicago and Cleveland-Chicago system. If gas goes back up to where it was last summer (and at some point it will) we will be thankful we have this system in place.

[aquila]

I can't answer the question about whether there is enough intercity travel in the state to warrant having an Amtrak connection. I haven't been to the Cleveland area since 1988. Sure, it would be a nice idea to have a line following the I-75 corridor south to Florida. (Of course if they did that, no doubt the actual "Cincinnati" stop would be somewhere in Northern Kentucky, as Cincinnati can't seem to get its act together when it comes to these kinds of things. Amtrak is already saying they don't want to use Union Terminal. I'm being a facetious snot right now.)

My understanding of the new rail line is that it was supposed to be high-speed. But apparently, from what I've read, the Cincinnati/Cleveland connection would take 6 hours...hardly "high speed" when you consider it takes less time to drive between the cities.

So as I see it, an Amtrak connection between the 3 Cs is pretty useless...unless of course, as you've stated, it would be part of a large line that goes all the way down to Florida.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by aquila

My understanding of the new rail line is that it was supposed to be high-speed. But apparently, from what I've read, the Cincinnati/Cleveland connection would take 6 hours...hardly "high speed" when you consider it takes less time to drive between the cities.

Yeah - 6 hours is a bit too long. Does that mean it would take 3 hrs from Cincinnati to Columbus?

These days, I travel quite a bit from Cincinnati to Columbus and I can tell you, I have quite a few companions on the road so from that standpoint, there is a need. BUT what what would people do when they alight from the train? How would one get around his destination city?

When I go to Cols, I may want to take in a game at OSU, take my daughter to supper and go to the Kroger store a couple of miles up high street. If my wife is with me, she may want to visit her aunt north of the city.

[rrtechno]

It would be nice if, somehow, NW Ohio could be included in some of this. It currently takes a scheduled 22 hours to get from the Amtrak station 10 miles from our house in NW Ohio to the station in Cincinnati. And that is if things are running on schedule, not likely to happen when the freight trains have priority. The return trip is 25 hours. The only way rail travel will ever catch on is if passenger lines reappear and the freight trains use their own tracks. Then the schedules can be maintained. I would love to take the train to go visit the kids, but I can drive it in under 4 hours. No way am I going to spend 22+ on a train to get the same place.

[aquila]

If there is all this stimulus money to use for building new rail lines, how much would it cost to build an elevated bullet train such as what they have in Germany and Japan? Why bother with Amtrak? I overheard some tidbit of info tonight on the news about Oxford wanting a stop on the Amtrak route. As much as I like Oxford, that's ridiculous. If all these other little communities in between want stops, it kinda defeats the whole purpose.

[restorationconsultant]

While the idea is nice, I doubt from an economic standpoint that it is a good use of taxpayer monies. I dont envision people in Cincinnati saying, "Hey, lets hop on a train and go to Cleveland". Most business travelers drive because they need a car once they get to their destination.

This isn't New York where people live 3 hrs away and commute and to me thats the best use of passenger rail services, to service areas with long commutes.

[fluorescent]

I agree with restorationconsultant. I think that it is a great idea, but we need better public transit in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus in order for people to ride a train between the cities. These trains work so great in Europe, because European cities are either walkable and/or have good public transit.

[Wilson513]

Hopefully, this boondoggle turkey is dead!

Kasich says 3-C plan "dead" if he's governor, as Ohio applies for millions more for train stations - Columbus Government | Examiner.com

[progmac]

even though this would have been federally funded, this will die under Kasich. republicans hate alternative transit.

on a bright note, a few billion has been appropriated to test some high speed rail in the northeast. hopefully we can get in on that some day.