TOLEDO (WTOL) - Toledo City Council approved an ordinance on Wednesday that will allow Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz to enter into agreements for a study into Toledo-Detroit rail ridership.
The ordinance OKs a cost estimate study for a total cost of $50,000. The Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments is contributing $20,000 of that total cost.
The ordinance approved Wednesday allows the expenditure of $30,000 from the Division of Transportation general fund budget.
The Toledo-Detroit Rail Ridership Feasibility & Cost Estimate Study will evaluate the potential for passenger rail service from Toledo to Southeast Michigan including Detroit, Dearborn, Ann Arbor, and Detroit Airport.
According to a business plan prepared in October by Transportation Economics & Management Systems Inc., the study will examine how passenger rail service between Toledo and Detroit could further both cities economically and improve local economies through better access to "markets, jobs, and income, and the social and leisure facilities of both the Michigan and Ohio regions."
The proposed corridor runs from Toledo to Southern Michigan, with possible connections to Detroit Airport, Detroit, Dearborn and Ann Arbor. It’s anticipated that the study will focus on and analyze trains that travel 79 mph (Amtrak) and 110 mph (Talgo).
This ordinance would let the mayor enter into agreements with Transportation Economics & Management Systems Inc. to undertake the study and with TMACOG to oversee the study, at no cost to the city.
The ordinance also would waive the taking of competitive proposals.
The ordinance was passed as an emergency measure, and it is in effect immediately after its passage.
