Monday, February 22, 2010
COLUMBUS (AP) — Critics of Ohio’s plan for a passenger train system have denounced it as a boondoggle and a money pit, and the project appears to be surrounded by political posturing as it heads to a vote this spring.
Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat who lobbied the White House hard to get $400 million in stimulus money for the project, has decried detractors as cheerleaders for failure.
Republican state lawmakers have been particularly outspoken, raising legitimate questions but often ignoring credible answers.
Plans call for a 79-mph startup rail service that would run on freight tracks connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, beginning in 2012. It would serve as a down payment on a future 110-mph service, with branches connecting to a Chicago-based Midwest corridor and cities on the East Coast.