Train plan faces criticism

March 5, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s plan to restore passenger train service, a project facing criticism from some Republican lawmakers, is a historic opportunity to create jobs around an emerging industry, the state’s top transportation official said.

Jolene Molitoris, director of the state Transportation Department, made an economic case for the train project, which aims to use $400 million in federal stimulus money for a startup, 79-mph service connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

“It is a proven job- creation engine,” Molitoris said in a speech Wednesday to the Columbus Metropolitan Club.

She cited examples in states where passenger-rail projects sparked the development of condos, restaurants and other businesses around train stations.

In Saco, Maine, a developer is spending $110 million to turn an old mill into condos and an office park next to a new Amtrak station that picks up travelers along a rail corridor that runs to Boston, she said.

Molitoris, who was director of the Federal Rail Administration during the Clinton administration, said she was confident Ohio’s project would work.

Amtrak released a study last year projecting ridership on the route at 478,000 during the first year of operations. About 6 million people live along the Cleveland-to-Cincinnati corridor, making it one of the most heavily populated corridors without rail service in the Midwest.

Private rail-service among Ohio’s major cities ended about 40 years ago, making train travel seem novel and unfamiliar to some Ohioans, but it’s working across the U.S., Molitoris said.