All Aboard "Ohio"...Huh?

[spuwho]

Yes, the model used by All Aboard Florida to fund rail is being looked at for a new HSR service between Columbus, Ohio and Chicago, IL. It's name is "All Aboard Ohio"....no kidding.

Cost = $1.3 Billion.

Per the Columbus Dispatch:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/07/17/rail-line-to-chicago-would-cost-1-3-billion.html



By  Rick Rouan

A plan to create high-speed passenger rail service between Chicago and Columbus is picking up steam, but organizers say the $1.3 billion project still isn't funded and is years away.

The Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association recently released a feasibility study saying the 300-mile system could create 26,800 full-time jobs and $700 million in household income along the corridor.

Railcars would travel 110 mph to 130 mph, getting travelers from Columbus to Chicago in less than four hours, according to the study. Once complete, the system could be handed off to a private operator.

"There's economic benefit, given the amount of business activity that occurs between Columbus and Chicago," said Vince Papsidero, Columbus' planning administrator. "This actually could be profitable."

Columbus would anchor the railway to the east with proposed stops Downtown and near Port Columbus. Stops also are planned in Marysville, Kenton and Lima.

Current proposals have the project being completed in 2020, but it still needs $1.3 billion to pay for construction and equipment.

The study says the potential economic returns make the line a strong candidate for federal funding and public-private partnerships. It also would seek funding from states.

The Federal Railroad Administration already has received $75 billion in requests for $10 billion in available grants for high-speed passenger rail service. Ohio Gov. John Kasich abandoned a plan by former Gov. Ted Strickland to link Columbus to Cleveland and Cincinnati via such service.

"The conventional wisdom has always been we'll get the feds to pay for it. I think that's starting to change," said Ken Prendergast, the executive director of the nonprofit group All Aboard Ohio.

Prendergast pointed to a Florida program that uses real-estate interests to subsidize passenger-rail extensions to residential developments as a possibility for the Columbus-Chicago line. He said the federal government also has a program that provides low-interest loans to buy equipment and develop new railroad facilities. The Federal Railroad Administration did not return calls seeking comment.

Local governments could chip in as well, Prendergast said, as they try to attract more young professionals who want alternative forms of transportation. Columbus has contributed about $20,000 to the proposal, Papsidero said.

Fred Lanahan, the president of the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association board, said, " When you're talking major infrastructure expenditure in terms of millions (of dollars), then probably the only players in that process would be the railroads."

Lanahan's organization, a state nonprofit group in Indiana, spearheaded the $100,000 study. He said proponents are trying to raise the $2 million needed for an environmental study before asking the federal government to help pay for an engineering plan that could cost as much as $10 million.

Lanahan said the project could be completed in 2017 if all goes well.

"We're talking about an alternative form of travel service that's going to alleviate the need for adding highway construction," he said.

[chrsjrcj]

One of the comments:

As long as it's 100% privately funded and not a public venture then I'm all for it. Taxpayers should not have to subsidize travelers.

Yikes. Amazing how uninformed the general populace is.

[ProjectMaximus]

One of the comments:

As long as it's 100% privately funded and not a public venture then I'm all for it. Taxpayers should not have to subsidize travelers.

Yikes. Amazing how uninformed the general populace is.

Yeah, I see this in different variations all over the place. It's really too bad.

[mbwright]

So all of the roads, and airlines should be entirely privately funded also?  What about business and oil companies, and many other industries that get taxpayer funding. 

[thelakelander]

All this project and AAF have in common is the name. FECI pretty much owns all of the track (that's already in place) and land for TOD. This Ohio project will be a money loser if the focus is primarily passenger rail so don't expect private companies to rush in to set their investment money on fire.

[Ocklawaha]

Most of the entire route is on the tracks of the 'Chicago, Ft. Wayne and Eastern Railroad.'

Background:

The Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest railroad in Fort Wayne for nearly 50 years and had a big yard on the southeast side called Piqua.  The yard was first class and had a hump, roundhouse, shops, and many tracks, as well as crew facilities.  Fort Wayne was also an important junction of two Pennsylvania Railroad branch lines; the Grand Rapids & Indiana ran northward from Junction and the Cincinnati, Richmond and Fort Wayne (also known as GR&I) began just east of Piqua Yard at Adams.  The mainline through Fort Wayne was constructed from east to west in stages by several smaller companies in the 1850's.  After it was all completed the line was known as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, & Chicago (PFtW&C).  The other branch lines were built a few decades later.  The mainline was built completely straight between Van Wert and Mike (Fort Wayne) and there are very few curves west of Fort Wayne.  It was one of the most direct routes ever built.

The Pennsy mainline through Ft. Wayne was a busy thoroughfare right up through Conrail in 1976.  After Conrail Day freight traffic slowly began to be shifted northward onto the New York Central route through Kendallville and Waterloo.  By the early 1980's Conrail started trimming down the entire line west of Crestline, Ohio and by 1986 it was all converted to single-track and passing sidings.  At that time only a few local freights and Amtrak were the only things running on it.  In the late 1980's Conrail decided to not keep the line up to passenger specs west of Crestline and Amtrak was finally forced to pull out of Fort Wayne in 1990.  Norfolk Southern purchased the line west of Fort Wayne in 1994 and named it the Fort Wayne District.  They also bought the GR&I north of Junction at that time.  Conrail kept the mainline east of Fort Wayne as well as the Decatur Branch, but they sold the entire western end of Piqua Yard to Triple Crown.  The east end of Piqua Yard was kept for staging the local freights and for use as a small crew base.  The 1999 Conrail split-up gave the Pennsy mainline and the Decatur Branch to CSX.  They operated the line for over 5 years before leasing both lines to the Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad.

All of the 'High Sped Rail Plans, Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Lima etc. to Chicago, have penned in this route. It is operated by the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad the same folks that operate the 'Talleyrand Terminal Railroad' and 'First Coast Railroad'. No doubt they have sat in on some meetings, what railroad wouldn't want their track turned into a super-railroad as long as someone else is paying for it?

Otherwise:


FROM HERE...

TO HERE, IN 5 DECADES...