It is completely feasible that the state of Michigan could acquire trackage to Toledo. They own the tracks from Kalamazoo to Dearborn, with Amtrak owning Kalamazoo to Porter, IN. And because there are so many active lines Detroit-Toledo and even Ann Arbor-Toledo, it seems there should be a willing partner at some point.
1) Why not both Dubuque and Iowa City *if* the money's available?
If the Federal money needed to start this service is part of a grant program with the State providing equal amounts of money, that could be a very large stumbling block for Ohio. We have a conservatively centralist GOP Governor who has not committed on the starting of the 3C+D service. We have a General Assembly who is much more conservative than the Governor, but, when the proposal was first made by Amtrak, my own State Senator who is quite conservative seemed open to considering it. There is a Democratic candidate for Governor in 2022 who has voiced her strong support for the 3C+D service. The results of the 2022 election may be extremely important as to what happens to this proposed service.
I learned it is Dayton major Nan Whaley who strongly supports Amtrak service from Cleveland to Cincinnati.
dayton247now.com
Additionally, with all those delays which frequently occur I fear we end up waiting that many years...I am unsure as to the accuracy of this TV stations reporting. Of the three TV stations in Dayton, this one has the weakest news department.I learned it is Dayton major Nan Whaley who strongly supports Amtrak service from Cleveland to Cincinnati.
Amtrak stations in '3 C's+D' statewide possible with Infrastructure Bill signing
DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF) -- A possible boost in transportation across Ohio could be coming after President Biden's $1. 2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill is signed into law. Billions of dollars from the deal could provide Amtrak services in major cities around the state. In Dayton, until 1979, Dayton...
In another article, they said it would not take 3 to 4 years to re-open service between Cleveland and Cincinnati, but 10 years. Whaley Leads Drive For Infrastructure Bill
How can this take so long? Tracks are there, you just need to upgrade them a little bit. In ten years you could almost build an entire new line. It's not a trip from New Mexico to Alaska, it's Cleveland - Cincinnati
And, I think sooner than that. If all of those at all levels of government in Ohio are on board with the plan. And, if it's a matching grant type of funding, Ohio's General Assembly will do its part. (The last I read, Ohio has a sizable "rainy day fund" and if the economy continues to improve, our tax revenues ought to increase.)
Who gets elected in Ohio is key. Remember, a single election of one Republican governor killed the Cincy-Dayton-Columbus-Cleveland line for 10 years.
Current Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who is a centrist Republican, is playing a wait-and-see game when it comes to the feasibility of the 3C+D corridor based on how much it will cost the state. However, he has supported Amtrak funding in the past, so there may be some hope there, but so far there has been no action to getting this route started, despite its high ridership potential.
Governor DeWine has to work with a very conservative General Assembly and has had to move to the "right" in recent months because of the opposition he has experienced from some members of that body. If he wins the GOP Primary in May and is re-elected in November, he will have the opportunity to return to his more centrist position (which I would consider is one of a pragmatic conservative who wants to get "stuff done"). At that point, the Governor would be in a better position to support the 3C+D corridor than he does now.
I feel somewhat discouraged by the party strength in the Ohio State Senate and some tendencies. I just checked on Wikipedia, the Ohio State Senate has 25 Republicans and 8 Democrats - the fewest number of Democrats since 1952 (!). Why the party of the great again man is that popular in Ohio? Are the Democrats increasingly in decline in Ohio?
This really shouldn't be a partisan political issue. There are many states that have strongly supported at least some Amtrak service under the leadership of both parties (Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania (especially for the Keystones), New York, even Wisconsin if you only count the Hiawatha Service). For some reason, the leadership in Ohio (probably mostly in the Legislature) has come under the spell of an ideological position that intercity passenger rail is not worthy of the expenditure of any public money. Indiana seems to be in a similar position, though they are quite willing to spend zillions on upgrading the South Shore Line, they had no interest in supporting the Hoosier State or any more extensive corridor service between Indianapolis and Chicago.I feel somewhat discouraged by the party strength in the Ohio State Senate and some tendencies. I just checked on Wikipedia, the Ohio State Senate has 25 Republicans and 8 Democrats - the fewest number of Democrats since 1952 (!). Why the party of the great again man is that popular in Ohio? Are the Democrats increasingly in decline in Ohio?
Under this circumstances, is there any chance any improvements of passenger rail can come to Ohio? I heard not all Republicans are against passenger rail, but most aren't they. Is it not highly likely Ohio politicans just give proposed money back as it was already the case with John Kasich? Would be quite "impressive" if Ohio doesn't go any step further for centuries
This is probably true, but I don't think that at the national level the votes are there yet for a dedicated funding source for passenger rail the same way that the highways have such a source in the fuel tax. But it's true that once there's a pot of Federal money that can go to the states and be used only for passenger rail projects, there may be more interest in such projects.
Unbeknownst to the ideologues, Brightline is actually selectively taking public money specially for enabling commuter service on their lines, and for building stations in Florida. As long as the ideologues don't notice on both sides, things should be fine - as long as the pragmatists rule the roost of action while ideologues spend all their time and energy just arguing with each other that is.
Gerrymandering is the name of the game in Ohio. Two Constitutional Amendments were passed in 2015 and 2018 that ought to have impacted what the alignment of Ohio State Representative/Senate Districts as well as our Congressional Districts ought to realistically represent on the basis of the distribution of votes for both Parties. TOTALLY IGNORED by the "those in power" to make such decisions. The issues are now before the Ohio Supreme Court with a one vote margin tilt towards the GOP. But, and I think it may be a major factor, the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, a GOP politician, has shown that she is unafraid to "go off the reservation" at times. And, she is term limited. If that happens and the entire redistricting issues on State and Federal levels are thrown back into the legislative hopper for our General Assembly to resolve, who knows what will happen. Having such happen, in my opinion, has the potential to be good news for the 3C+D plan.
The votes can be secured if you give Congress something to vote on and someone at Amtrak were actually competent at making the point that they can provide a much more useful service for the money. For twice what Amtrak did manage to get from the Infrastructure bill, they could easily double the number of route miles served a dramatically increase it's ridership.
Or will he? Unfortunately, we discovered in Iowa that a fanatically anti-rail Republican legislature can kill a rail project even if the governor supports it and it's 80% federally funded.
