TOLEDO, Ohio — How can northwest Ohio see better rail service? That's the question the Northwest Ohio Passenger Rail Association came to Toledo Monday to discuss.
NOPRA held a forum at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza to talk about how to improve passenger rail service using federal funding.
Currently, only a few passenger lines run through Toledo and passengers have to onboard in the middle of the night.
"We know that folks in Northwest Ohio want trains during the daytime," Derrick James, the director of government affairs for Amtrak, said. "They want them in the morning, the afternoon and the evening ... multiple options to choose from. That's what's going to allow people to take the train and having them choosing us over them taking their car or hopping in a plane."
About $65 billion are specifically earmarked for Amtrak in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs act passed in 2021 to help states improve passenger rail service.
"Ohio has a lot of major cities that could be connected, just like Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia do," James said. "Ohio, we think, is fertile ground for improved passenger train service."
James Coston, CEO of the Corridor Rail Development Corporation, also spoke at the event, saying the funding wouldn't dump most of the costs of rail operations onto the state or local governments.
"Operating expenses are, for the most part, covered by the subsidy as is 80% of the capital investment for the routes," Coston said.
The consensus is that Ohio needs to expand passenger rail service along the existing Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited lines from Chicago to Cleveland. Then, there needs to be a new line that connects Cleveland with Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.
It's not just about offering frequent and reliable travel for passenger, though, Coston said. It's also about invigorating economic development in the cities where these lines would make stops.
"When you introduce new service, new frequencies at the station area, the transit-oriented development that arises around the perimeter of these stations is phenomenal everywhere it goes," Coston said.
The state of Ohio has until the end of March to apply for federal funding that would pay for the entirety of the study to look into expanding current corridors or developing a new one.