Speed estimates accelerate for passenger-train project

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Trains running on Ohio’s planned passenger rail project are capable of completing the entire Cleveland-to-Cincinnati route in just over five hours, about 90 minutes faster than a previous estimate, state transportation officials said Friday.

The new schedule is based on a more detailed computer analysis of train performance on the 255-mile route and would make the service more competitive with driving, said Scott Varner, an Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman.

The faster schedule also has potential to increase ridership, which was previously estimated at 478,000 a year, but no new estimates have been completed.

More ticket sales could also reduce the size of the state’s annual operating subsidy, projected at $17 million — less than 1 percent of the roughly $3 billion that the Transportation Department spends each year.

President Barack Obama in January awarded Ohio $400 million in stimulus money for a startup rail service connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati with trains reaching 79 mph by late 2012 or 2013. It is one of 13 stimulus-funded passenger rail projects in the U.S.

Also Friday, Ohio received permission from the Federal Rail Administration to spend the first $15 million in stimulus funds, Varner said. The money will help Ohio hire outside consultants to identify specifications for train equipment, complete environmental studies and select an operator, possibly Amtrak.

Amtrak, crediting an improving economy and high fuel prices, is on pace for record ridership this year, carrying a best-ever 13.6 million passengers in the first half of fiscal year 2010.

Ohio’s new, faster train schedule includes three daily round trips with departures and arrivals in the morning, afternoon and evening.

The analysis, completed by Woodside Consulting Group Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., updates a preliminary schedule released by Amtrak in 2009 showing a total run time from Cleveland to Cincinnati of 61/2 hours.

The trip is now estimated at five hours and 14 minutes. Going the other way — Cincinnati to Cleveland — is slightly faster at five hours and 11 minutes.

The schedule includes boarding time at eight stations and translates into an average speed of about 50 mph for the entire route, Varner said. The Cleveland-to-Columbus segment, which figures to have the most ridership, can be completed in two hours and 21 minutes for an average speed of about 60 mph.

The state will examine special game-day trains to coincide with major sporting events, such as Ohio State football games, Varner said.

Varner cautioned that the new schedule will likely change again based on further engineering.