Indiana keeps Lima in running for high speed rail

LIMA — Indiana officials did something Friday that keeps Lima in the high speed rail game.

Indiana applied Friday for $49 million in federal money to study engineering and environmental options for high speed rail routes. It also made a strong public commitment to a southern route, that would move trains from Chicago to Columbus through Fort Wayne, Ind., and Lima rather than northern route, Mayor David Berger said.

“Without this decision, we had no chance. Unless the governor made the decision he made, this whole routing through Indiana was unable to be solved. There’s $8 billion on the table (in federal funding),” Berger said. “Had this not happened, there would have been no opportunity for the Lima route to be discussed further.”

The Fort Wayne route is more viable, especially for improving freight transportation, to create a double track so freight and passenger trains can share the route. Currently freight trains move at 25 mph on the line; improvements would increase that to 70 mph, Berger said.

High speed rail supporters in Ohio have yet made no progress lobbying U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, to support the plan and help seek funding for it, Berger said.

The 4th District Rail Task Force continues to engage with Jordan’s officer, Berger said. It is using the Ohio Freight Rail Association, which is supportive of passenger rail, to try and influence Jordan, because Jordan has signaled he is more supportive of things that would improve freight transportation.

Jordan now also wants information regarding conservative think tank Buckeye Institute’s report on high speed rail. The group labeled the Obama administration’s rail plan a waste of money, seeing billions of taxpayer dollars spent with “very little public or environmental benefit.”

Berger said he has concerns about the report but declined to comment further because the task force is currently working on a formal response to the report.

The state is finalizing plans for its precursor to high speed rail, restoring passenger service to Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, the 3-C line. The Ohio Rail Development Commission held a workshop this week to hear from the more than 325 communities along more than 30 different possible exact routes.

The commission is working with the freight railroads and Amtrak to reestablish a route. Nearly 6 million Ohioans live along the route, 60 percent of the state’s population. It is the most populous stretch of the country without passenger rail.

The three primary lines — through Pittsburgh and Columbus to Chicago, the 3-C line and a northern route through Cleveland and Toronto — need to all run together to get the greatest economic gains from rail, Berger said.