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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                              Contact:       Stu Nicholson

Date: November 16, 2004                                                                            (614) 644-0513 

 

 

Get Ohio Moving.... On Trains

ORDC Rolls Out The “Ohio Hub”

 

(Columbus) – “It is the second greatest ground transportation system planned for Ohio since the birth of the Interstate Highway System.”  That’s how ORDC Executive Director James Seney describes Ohio’s first-ever statewide and regional rail plan: The Ohio & Lake Erie Regional Rail Hub Plan.

 

The Ohio Hub Plan envisions an 860-mile system of intercity passenger trains, serving 32 stations and over 22-million people in Ohio, five neighboring states and Southern Canada.  Up to eight trains a day will provide a fast, frequent and cost-effective travel option that connects people with major downtown centers, international airports, and suburban areas with access to interstate highways as well as major sports, arts and entertainment attractions. 

 

“What we’re talking about here is same day, round-trip service at a cost and at speeds that compete with and yet complement automobile and air travel,” says Seney. “And because the plan also calls for the use and expansion of Ohio’s existing railroad corridors, this will also increase capacity for moving freight and better managing increasing congestion on our highways. Taken together, the passenger and freight segments of the Ohio Hub Plan will provide a significant benefit to Ohio’s economy and the development of more and better jobs.”

 

Total build-out of the nine-year plan would cost approximately $3.32-billion, but the Ohio Hub Plan does not call for funding from a public ballot issue.  “We already have over $50-million dollars of state, local and private funds that have been spent on railroad grade crossing improvements or grade separations in the very rail corridors outlined in the Ohio Hub”, says Seney.  “We can use those dollars to leverage greater federal funds as they become available.”  Currently, there is no federal program for funding and developing railroad infrastructure. 

 

“Despite that, it is absolutely vital that Ohio proceed forward with the goal of having a funding-ready plan”, says Seney. “Anything less means Ohio will be well behind other states when a federal program is approved and in place.”

 

The Ohio Hub Plan got its first official public airings this month as ORDC held the first in a series of public involvement meetings around the state.  The first meeting was in Toledo on Tuesday, November 16th, with over 80 people attending, including public officials, community leaders and the general public.

 

The plan also received a major debut in Columbus on November 19th at the Columbus Metropolitan Club “Growing Smarter” Luncheon. Over 120 business, government and community leaders got not only a presentation of the Ohio Hub Plan, but a detailed look at what the states of Pennsylvania and California are already doing to assist passenger and freight rail.

 

Detailed information on the meetings and the luncheon can be found at the ORDC website: www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/  or at the website of the Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers www.ohioansforpassengerrail.com

 

(The Ohio Rail Development Commission is an independent agency operating within the Ohio Department of Transportation.  ORDC is responsible for economic development through the improvement and expansion of passenger and freight rail service, railroad grade crossing safety and rail travel & tourism issues. For more information about what ORDC does for Ohio, visit our website at http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/)