DELAWARE, Ohio — Tuesday’s announcement of the possibility of a passenger rail service is a welcomed one for some in central Ohio. Cities like Columbus and Delaware haven’t had a passenger train since the late 1970s.
Funding from the Federal Rail Administration will go towards the planning of four passenger routes across the state. Two of the routes include Columbus.
The Midwest corridor will connect Chicago and Pittsburgh through Columbus and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The second corridor called 3C+D will run through Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. This route is a primary focus for Governor Mike DeWine and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
The 3C+D corridor would also include stops in smaller communities such as Delaware, Crestine, Springfield and Sharonville.
Since the last passenger train left the Delaware depot in the late 1970s, the city has nearly tripled in population.
“This would be a real game changer,” said Lee Yoakum, community affairs coordinator for Delaware. “This would be an important step for a number of reasons including mobility, economic development for small and large businesses, for housing. All of those boxes could be checked with this if it moves forward. That’s the big question: 'what’s the next step?'”
The former depot along Lake Street in Delaware wouldn’t be put back into service. If the 3C+D project is given the green light, a new depot for Delaware would likely go along the CSX line about 2.5 miles east along U.S. Route 36. That would give ample space for parking and expansion.
This isn’t the first time the 3C+D corridor has been proposed. It was being talked about for a time in the late 2000s until it was shut down by then-Governor John Kasich in 2011.
“They've been pushing this since I was young. So there's a train cult,” said Kasich during his appointment of Jerry Wray as Director of ODOT in November 2011.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown spoke one-on-one with 10TV Wednesday afternoon. He said this time is different.
“Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati should have Amtrak service. It should be more frequent. It should be more safe. It should be faster. That’s what this is all about to get this first investment. The governor is on board. The governor a decade ago wasn’t,” said Brown.
Brown said as Columbus and other communities in central Ohio grow due to industry moving in, rail is much-needed in order to handle the increase in population.
“Look at out in the suburbs. Look at north Columbus and Delaware County now. Look at the growth east and northeast in Licking County,” said Senator Brown. “We need transportation options. We can’t just widen highways and widen and widen them without having other transportation options. I dream of the day, many several years away, when train travel will really alleviate some of the burden of all the traffic we’re seeing.”
“It would be a game changer to have those kinds of connections and that kind of mobility here in central Ohio,” said Yoakum. “To be able to reach those other cities along that 3C+D corridor… I believe there’s 57% of Ohio’s 11.8 million population living along that corridor, so to have that connection would be so important for not only the city of Delaware but all central Ohio.”
The plans for passenger rail expansion in Ohio will go into the planning phase in 2024. Rail officials will look at what needs done and what tracks will be suitable for passenger trains.
The biggest complaint against Amtrak are delays. Amtrak operates mostly on tracks owned and operated by the country’s major freight railroads.
When Amtrak was created in the 1970s, federal law was created requiring freight companies to give priority to passenger rail. This law is mostly ignored according to Amtrak statistics.
Amtrak rates host railroads yearly in a report card. In 2022, Canadian Pacific scored the best in allowing Amtrak trains to pass. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern scored the worst.
It’s not uncommon for passenger trains to be caught behind slow-moving freight trains for miles or even stopped as freight cars are moved around.
Brown said the government needs to crack down on freight companies. He said they’ve been allowed to relax laws and regulations for too long, using East Palestine as an example.
Even though the planning phases for passenger rail will begin next year, the first passenger trains are still likely years away.