COLUMBUS, Ohio — Amtrak may soon be coming to central Ohio as the Ohio Rail Development Commission just applied and took the first steps to expanding the service.
The commission applied for the first phase of funding to study what it would take to bring an Amtrak to Ohio.
Stu Nicholson, the executive director for All Aboard! Ohio said passenger rail service could happen in the next five years.
"On a train it is quality time, you can do what you want. You can look out the window, or you can flip open the laptop and do some work if you're on business,” said Nicholson, who is fighting to bring more trains to Ohio for faster transportation between major cities.
William Murdock, the executive director of Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission, said there is more federal support now than ever before. There’s $66.3 billion available to expand passenger rail across the county.
“This is an exciting moment, because Columbus is the largest region in the country not on the nation's passenger rail network and just yesterday, two applications went through one to connect Columbus to Cleveland, Dayton and Cincinnati, and one to connect Columbus to Pittsburgh and Chicago,” Murdock said.
Phase one of the funding process is examining how the Amtrak would work, what it will take to get it up and running and studying how many people would likely be using it.
Phase two involves engineering and environmental work, requiring a 10% state match.
Phase three is the actual construction and building out the rails and trains. The entire process could take up to five years.
Nicholson and Murdock said the Amtrak would boost the local economy, and smaller, rural towns. It will also come shortly after major companies like Intel expand its headquarters to central Ohio.
The commission will hear this summer if the state moves on to phase two