OHIO Youngstown, others to lose Amtrak stations

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Amtrak plans to close train stations in Youngstown, Akron and Fostoria by spring.
The cuts are necessary because Amtrak is getting out of the business of carrying mail, which largely supported the Three Rivers route west of Pittsburgh, the railroad said.
Another train designed mainly to carry express packages, though it did pick up passengers in Cleveland and Elyria, was eliminated 20 months ago.
Two years ago, Amtrak ran five routes across Ohio. It eliminated daytime service between Toledo, Sandusky and Cleveland in January 2003 when the Pennsylvanian reverted to a New York-Pittsburgh schedule after a little more than four years as a Philadelphia-Chicago train.
There are no plans to cut the three remaining routes, two with daily stops in Cleveland and Elyria and a three-times-a-week train through Cincinnati, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. "We don't need to waste time mourning the loss of trains that weren't making the grade financially," said Jim Seney, director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission, in a statement after the latest cut was announced Sept. 3.
"What we need to be doing is moving forward on developing trains that make financial sense and get people where they want to go."