FILE - Passengers board an Amtrak train in Minnesota. The Federal Railroad Administration announced that four passenger rail expansion projects in Ohio, including one coming through Lima, will receive funding to begin initial planning.
File Photo | Star Tribune | TNS
LIMA — There is much work still to do, but for proponents of passenger rail service in Lima, there is reason for optimism after Tuesday’s announcement of a grant allocation to begin the planning stages for four passenger rail projects in Ohio, one of which would come through Lima.
The Federal Railroad Administration is awarding $500,000 to each of these four projects as part of its Corridor Identification and Development Program, including a Chicago-Fort Wayne-Columbus-Pittsburgh Amtrak route with Lima as one of the stops. Other Ohio stops include Kenton, Marysville, Newark, Coshocton, Newcomerstown, Uhrichsville and Steubenville, linking approximately 14.7 million people along that route, according to the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.
The other projects to receive funding were a Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit route, a Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati route, known as the “3C+D” corridor, and an expansion of Amtrak’s current Cardinal route, which stops in Cincinnati, from three days a week to daily service.
For Lima Mayor Sheretta Smith, Tuesday’s announcement is the culmination of years of effort, capped recently by a new application submitted by her office in March 2023 which helped get the project off the ground.
“Advocating for passenger rail to return to the Lima region is just one of the foundational needs for Lima that I picked up from former Mayor David Berger and have continued to prioritize,” Smith said in a statement. “The grant will enable Lima to take significant strides toward improving connectivity, transportation and efficient and sustainable travel options.”
Improvements could come in the form of reduced traffic congestion and improved access to transportation, proponents say, especially transportation to major Midwest markets like Chicago and Columbus. Opening a passenger rail line could also have a tremendous economic impact, as well as create opportunities for commuting to jobs out of town, which would aid in workforce issues, according to William Murdock, executive director of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.
“When you look at places along the line like Fort Wayne, Lima or Columbus, having access not just to passenger rail but to each other is big,” he said. “There are a lot of companies, a lot of universities along that line. To connect our communities to Chicago and that massive Midwest economic center is big. Going the other direction to Pittsburgh, that’s a large region, but once you get to Pittsburgh, you can get to the East Coast.”
While this funding announcement is a positive sign for Ohio passenger rail expansion, it only marks the start of what will be a long process in making these routes a reality, according to Erin Rosiello, chairperson for All Aboard Ohio, an advocacy group for passenger rail in Ohio. She said that while the first phase in this project is planning, which the $500,000 grant will fund, this project will consist of three phases, with the second phase focused on creating a service development plan and the third phase focused on completing the primary engineering for the new route.
“Step one is a one-year deal, and that’s what they have as their target,” she said. “I’m not sure about the service development plan or the engineering, but we’re thinking five or six years to get through that.”
Grants for steps two and three will not cover the entire cost, with step two requiring a 10 percent match and step three requiring a 20 percent match in funds.
“It’s very exciting, but we need to be very focused and make sure that, if you want passenger rail, you’re letting your legislator know or you’re letting the governor know or you’re letting the Ohio Rail Development Commission know,” Rosiello said. “It doesn’t just magically happen, and based on history, we need to make sure that we’re supportive.”
Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391.
