When will our local officials press for light rail mass transit?

[rusty river]

I'm on board as well.
(pun intended...  )

[irishbobcat]

Just sent Mr. Ryan an e-mail as well.......

Dennis Spisak
Mahoning Valley Greens

[Towntalk]

I just sent Congressman Ryan an e-mail asking him that very question.

IF everyone on this forum were to send him a brief e-mail  asking him what he personally is doing to bring lite rail to Youngstown he might get the message. Be sure to make it short and polite.

Contact him thru his web site:

Congressman Ryan's web site

http://timryan.house.gov/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

[irishbobcat]

When will all of our local officials start rallying for light rail mass transit for our area?

Dennis Spisak
Mahoning Valley Green Party


http://www.marionst ar.com/apps/ pbcs.dll/ article?AID= 2009902190305
Marion officials supporting rail project
By JOHN JARVIS • The Marion Star • February 18, 2009

MARION - Money made available for required environmental studies has spurred a coalition of elected officials to seek the support of their congressman for a high-speed rail project.
The group of representatives of communities in the 4th U.S. House District including Marion, Lima and Mansfield will meet with members of U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan on Friday morning in Kenton.

Their objective is to persuade Jordan to help Ohio secure the approximately $7 million that it's estimated federally required programmatic environmental studies would cost. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 provided about $13 million for Amtrak and passenger-rail funding.

Marion Mayor Scott Schertzer said the meeting's purpose is "to give us an opportunity to lobby and show the importance of light rail in our district." While the primary routes planned for the Ohio Rail Development Commission's Ohio Hub, a seven-intercity- corridor rail network, do not include Marion, the project would benefit the area, Schertzer said.

"It could improve freight rail, as well, and freight obviously is very important to Marion," he said, adding that the city and county would benefit by any improvements to Marion Intermodal, located at the Marion Industrial Center on Harding Highway East. Such improvements would generate jobs, he said.

Stu Nicholson, ORDC spokesman, echoed Schertzer's comments, saying establishment of the passenger rail system "stands to improve freight rail" by improving track, signals, crossing safety devices and other infrastructure in existing rail corridors.

Environmental studies must be complete for states to be "funding-ready, " which is mandatory to be eligible for 80-20 federal funding, 80 percent federal and 20 percent local, Nicholson said. Other states are ahead of Ohio in having such studies done. "All the more reason Ohio needs to get in position to do this."

Jordan, who recently voted against the federal economic stimulus package as an opponent of increased spending, was noncommital toward high speed rail during a teleconference with reporters last week.

Jordan said then he didn't have enough information to

comment on the proposal.

The 3-C (Cincinnati to Columbus to Cleveland) corridor is the primary route being pursued by the ORDC for a conventional passenger rail system, with ancillary routes also planned, including one from Columbus to Chicago through Marysville, Kenton and Findlay with a branch to Lima.

Final routes for the Ohio Hub, however, have not been determined. The ORDC contracted with Amtrak for a survey of ridership and revenue, results of which are to be provided by Aug. 31, Nicholson said. The ORDC submitted an "array of alternate routes," including some through Marion.

"I can't say (Marion) is the primary possibility, but it is a possibility, and there's other factors, too," he said, adding that the ORDC might work with freight-only tracks to accommodate passenger rail.

While the best-case scenario for completion of an Ohio Hub high-speed rail system is eight to 10 years, Gov. Ted Strickland "wants to get the 3-C service at least started by 2010, Nicholson said. The conventional network, for trains moving up to 79 mph, would use existing rail while the high-speed system, for trains moving about 110 mph, would require new, separate track.

City Service Director Jay Shoup, who will represent Marion at the Kenton meeting, delivering a letter of support from the mayor, expressed a cautious tone regarding the ORDC's plans.

Shoup noted that a passenger rail system "has been studied numerous times from a high-speed rail and conventional rail standpoint. ... We have yet to establish conventional rail let alone progressed to high-speed rail."

"It boils down to supply and demand and ridership, just economics, how many people are going to use it," he said. "If something like this would materialize, you would certainly want to take advantage of it. ... But so far in 30 years it's been studied it hasn't been chosen to be feasible."

Cost of the high-speed rail system has been estimated to be approximately $3.2 billion.

Shoup said rail likely will be an important part of maintaining an effective transportation system in the state.

"I think rail's going to prove to be a very cost-beneficial thing in the future," he said. "How far in the future? ... Freight transportation has proven itself time and again. Passenger service? People are still in love with the single-occupancy vehicle. Until people are willing to part with those, rail still faces an uphill fight."

State funding for additional rail lines "would tend to raise the tide for rail service whether it was passenger or freight," he said.

Marion County Commissioner Josh Daniels said he plans to attend the meeting in Kenton "to find out more about it. I suppose, all in all, there are more pressing concerns. There are other people who know more about it. I'll listen to their argument and determine if the project ever gets funded should we put our energies into it or not."