Would Toledo-Columbus-Pittsburgh be a possibility with 2 or 3 more stops? I have no idea if there would be suitable rails or not.
More Amtrak Service In Ohio?
- Thread starter Philly Amtrak Fan
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The Ohio Hub planning back in the 2000s (I think?) did suggest a Detroit-Toledo-Columbus-Pittsburgh route, in addition to a host of other routes, providing a network of relatively fast (not HSR), relatively frequent (not hourly) trains in and around Ohio. I'm not sure if you can still find those studies and proposals floating around out there but if so you might be able to figure out what tracks were talked about for that Toledo-Columbus-Pittsburgh route.
As an alternative to the current Capitol Ltd route between Pittsburgh and Toledo, they could run the CSX route formerly used by Amtraks Three Rivers via Youngstown, Akron, and Fostoria, then CSX freight line to Toledo. This wouldn’t serve Columbus, however...
Dakota 400
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To give us an idea how popular the proposal is: Gov. DeWine just proposed a decent sized cut in transportation in his budget. Good luck to Ohioans for increased intercity service with leadership like that!
Source of your information, please.
What I have read from a few years ago is that the CSX route through Youngstown and Akron (the New Castle subdivision) is an incredibly busy freight line and there would be no capacity to run passenger trains. Even if they did find a slot the reliability would be horrendous. Personally, I would like to see as a medium term project the reinstatement of the former Erie RR route between New Castle and Akron and maybe even beyond. Apart from gap in Niles most of the route is still there, albeit mothballed or very low grade class 3 short line.
To give us an idea how popular the proposal is: Gov. DeWine just proposed a decent sized cut in transportation in his budget. Good luck to Ohioans for increased intercity service with leadership like that!
Since people distrusted this poster and asked for a source - StackPath
Ohio's state legislature is run by longtime incumbent Republicans, who are proud to have only a HS diploma and who hail from mostly rural and southern parts of the state. Rural Ohio views Cleveland the same way rural Illinois views Chicago, or rural New York views New York City. The difference in Ohio is Cleveland isn't big enough to outvote them, so you have something like my 20,000-person inner ring suburb getting only one city bus an hour.
Sherrod Brown is probably the only skilled enough Democratic politician to get elected as Governor, and no Republican Governor is going to help us expand transit in Ohio.
Dakota 400
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Thank you.
The one piece of good news in this article that Rep. Carfagna, since he is part of the House's GOP Leadership, said he would push to get the funding restored.
Dakota 400
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It would be the dream of dreams to be able to construct an Amtrak route between Michigan and Florida through Ohio, instead of NY and WAS. From TOL to Dayton and then KY, TN, Atlanta...
I agree, and I don’t even live in Michigan any more.
As a kid I took Amtrak’s Floridian - which was ALMOST what you were looking for - but we had to go west from Kalamazoo to Chicago before heading south through IN, KY, TN, AL.
If we could just get Ohio and Indiana out of the dark ages - there would be enough connecting traffic a Michigan to Florida route wouldn’t be impossible - even if we had to transfer somewhere in OH/KY/TN.
Seaboard92
Engineer
From Toledo to Columbus is doable down the EX C&O Routing that the Ambassador used to run (Washington-Detroit) on its route. Ohio has so many amazing options for routings.
I think Michigan to Florida makes more sense than Chicago to Florida, yet the latter has garnered far more attention. With Detroit or another nearby station (suburban with parking would be ideal) as a hub, you immediately gain all those cities within a few hours drive - not to mention Southern Ontario, with several million people who travel to Florida.
Philly Amtrak Fan
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Chicago to Florida via Michigan. Problem solved!
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On the other hand, the Empire Builder, the CONO, the Chief and the Zephyr all terminate in Chicago so for Amtrak passenger through travel, the train needs to go to Chicago - albeit, it could go to Detroit first.
That doesn't mean people will be going from Florida to Los Angeles via Chicago but many of the tweeners would most likely do so.
brianpmcdonnell17
Conductor
I think it could make sense to have a split train which serves both, but Chicago seems like the more logical option if it's one or the other. The Chicago region has roughly twice the population of the Detroit region, and a Chicago train would likely serve Indianapolis as well. The role of Chicago as an existing Amtrak hub also makes a big difference, since it allows for a lot more connection opportunities (including all Michigan services) and the facilities already exist to service and store the train in Chicago. It's also important to consider that most passengers from either Chicago or Michigan would not be traveling to Florida; the market to potential intermediate points such as Louisville, Nashville, and Atlanta is as important if not moreso than the market to Florida.
Philly Amtrak Fan
Engineer
Not to get this away from Ohio service but another thing Amtrak really needs to do is to get service back between New Orleans and Florida to open up more east-west service along the south. Why does all service from East to West have to go through Chicago? If someone wants to go on Amtrak from Texas or California to Florida now, they have to go through Chicago and that's really stupid. Texas and Florida are the 2nd and 3rd most populous states in the country and there's no way to go between them without going all the way north and then all the way south?
You can get to Florida from California without going through Chicago, but you still have to go through New Orleans and Washington, D.C.
jb
jb
Philly Amtrak Fan
Engineer
Not much better.
Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati, Cleveland-Pittsburgh, and Cleveland-Detroit would work on their own if they had good train times and actually were marketed, but Cleveland really would need a better station to sustain that level of service.
The long-term goal of Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati should be to continue to Louisville and then Nashville. No reason to stop in Cincinnati.
The long-term goal of Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati should be to continue to Louisville and then Nashville. No reason to stop in Cincinnati.
I think he meant terminate or end in Cincinnati. But actually, there IS a reason to stop in Cincinnati: if Kentucky is willing to pay for service, then Louisville is out. Same thing for Tennessee.
Sorry, I wasn't clear, I agree with you, I meant that without financial support from other states, of course the service will terminate in Cincinnati. Though there might be a case to be made for an extension to the Cincinnati airport, which is in Kentucky, as that would benefit Ohioans who use that airport.
Johnepants
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I always believed that a successful 3C corridor could open up the possibility of a new national north south train that could go to either New Orleans or Florida. But I’m probably just having a pipe dream
