It's January, Must Be Time for an Ohio Hub/Passenger Rail Update

I've met some awesome people over the past six months and that is the up side to working on and caring about this issue....because it all moves so slowly. Having said that, here is what is new or newer (now I sound like a Realtor®) regarding passenger rail/The Ohio Hub.

First, most of my rail posts last year were strewn with pleas for support of SB294 to restore monies to AMTRAK for rail improvements. I'm happy to say that the Senate passed the Bill! 268 Yays and 153 Nays later, with my only disappointment - Senator Voinovich did not support it. This after correspondence from his office saying how supportive he was of pursuing the idea of high speed rail in Ohio. I guess he wasn't going to put the pocket book with the words? If you are disappointed, write him a letter. Seriously!  More Bills and issues will arise and we need both of our senators on board. (Senator Brown voted for it).

Now comes word that President Bush may veto the Bill. Sigh. Here is a thoughtful article about iton the Accuracy in Media site by guest author Paul Weyerich. Yeah, the article is from 2005 but it lends some light on why the veto may occur. Here is a glimpse:

"....If President Bush is serious about getting the reforms and Congress fails to act, then Bush will have to veto the Transportation Appropriations Bill and insist that no money be forthcoming for Amtrak until the reforms are enacted.

For an Administration that did not veto a single bill in its entire first term, it is a real stretch to think that its very first veto is going to be over Amtrak.  Unless that threat is real there will be no action and we will be back to square one.  There will be just enough money to operate but not enough to do what Amtrak President Dave Gunn says needs to be done.  Who wants to continue the same old game?"

Next up we have the report by the National Transportation Commission. (follow that link for the entire report.) All Aboard Ohio's website highlights the following and I am going to as well:

"....Of particular importance to All Aboard Ohio is Section 6 INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL: A Program to Serve High-Growth Corridors by Rail.  The commission believes that congestion on America's roadways and airways constitues a serious threat to national mobility.  This section of the report states that Amtrak and other intercity passenger rail corridors have consistently demonstrated that fast, frequent, and reliable rail service can seriously relieve congestion on other modes of travel.

The report calls for the states and US DOT to create an Intercity Passenger Rail Program that would build a network of rail lines that would primarily connect regions and populations centers within 500 miles of each other.  The commission report states that this program has the potential to fund upto $357 Billion worth of rail investment in the United States for over a 44 year period.  All Aboard Ohio is fully supportive of such a recommendation and is currently working to support efforts to implement this and other rail investment in the state of Ohio...."

 Sandusky is now seeing the light and is working in support of The Ohio Hub. This article in the Sandusky Registerby Jennifer Grathwol discusses how the Sandusky City Commission voted in support of it's US Representative's vote on matching Federal funds for the building of The Hub. One sound byte I like from the article has someone saying 'This is not pie in the sky anymore.'  Amen to that!

 While we are waiting on the Innerbelt Plan and the West Shoreway plan to take shape (sigh) and keep hearing about delays, ODOT seems to think that the first leg of The Ohio Hub can begin in two years. By the way, Parade Magazine, of all things, did a great story on passenger rail it included an on-going poll being conducted by Washington Watch. If you go to my other blog, Cleveland Real Estate News,you can see the widget in my side bar.  It updates constantly; currently 51% are supporting monies for passenger rail. Last week it was 50-50. If you click on the widget it takes you to a nice compilation of info about passenger rail and the poll as well.

The next Bill we need to support is HB 3074.  And of course we need all of you to contact your Congress people and Senators to ask them for their support. The Freight Unions, The Highway Unions, Federal studies, and public opinion is all swinging towards passenger rail. We have our own reasons in Ohio. Yes, fuel prices are high, dependence on foreign oil keeps us boxed into foreign policy issues that we don't like. But the truth is, Ohio needs a better economy and passenger rail, in the words of Stu Nicholson from ODOT can "be the penicillin that is good for what ails us."

If you are in Ohio and interested in staying abreast or even helping out with grassroots effort to move passenger rail along, email me through Active Rain or at c.cohen@adelphia.net. We have a Yahoo! group for all of us grassroots types and I can forward your info along to the moderator!

Lastly, a shout out to Linda Davis who provided this awesome link to an Alaska Rail Line slide show. You will find it breathtaking I know you will!

Peace Out - 3C