The 3C Rail Project -Rail Finally for Ohio?

The 3C rail project is a rail project that will finally connect the three largest cities in Ohio by passenger rail : Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. It will make other stops along the way and provide a service that has been lacking in Ohio. There are existing freight rail lines that connect the cities and those lines will be used by this passenger rail service. The long-term plan is to upgrade the tracks to increase the speed over time, but they are not going to do this currently since all brand new tracks would be too costly.

There is a common misconception that this is project dreamed up by the current Democratic governor Ted Strickland and it has been turned into a partisan issue for some reason. This project was actually first thought up by Republican governor George Voinovich (one of the current Senators from Ohio) in the 1990s, but it just never had received the funding to complete this project. It has also been know has Ohio Hub, which the Department of Transportation were doing studies on the expansion of passenger rail service (that study along with the maps are in the link below).

The Ohio Hub was the Ohio piece of a planned upgraded and expanded passenger rail service in the Midwest. The long-term goal of the Ohio Hub would be for someone in Columbus to be able to travel by rail to near-by Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, or Toledo (to name a few). In the long-term plans, someone from Cincinnati could get rid the passenger rail all the way to Toronto, Ontario. The idea is to give an alternative to travel by plane for the short trips. The Ohio Hub studies had planned for the passenger rail to connect with the local cities light rail system to carry the passengers to their final location, but many of the cities do not have light rail systems yet. Cleveland has light rail and Columbus has a light rail system in the works.

The 3C project has finally received its funding from the Stimulus and it can only go to this rail project or the state loses the money. Since it had finally received the money from the Stimulus and has been back by the current Democratic governor Ted Strickland, the Republicans in the state house have fought against it. The Republican challenger for governor has even made this and issue in his campaign. The Republican challenger is against it and is blaming Governor Strickland for this project, even thought Governor Strickland is only finishing a project that was started in the 1990s by a fellow Republican.

There is no reason this should be a partisan issue when it was started by one party and it is being finished by the other side, therefore both sides have been for this at some point in the project's history. Infrastructure projects are historically non-partisan, therefore this is odd that it is become so partisan so quickly. It could be the fact that it was funded by the Stimulus and almost anything that President Obama has taken part of, the Republicans have been on the other side of the fence, but this shouldn't be a reason why this project is held up. The Ohio Senate has a Republican majority, therefore, they have been holding up this project for starting.

The sad truth is that Ohio use to have an amazing rail system called the interurban rail system. It was an electric rail system and it crisscrossed the state going to most cities and towns in the state. It was dismantled in the 1940s because it lacked the funds and some argue with the help of the automotive industries hands.

The 3C rail service would be ideal for the thousands of college students throughout the many colleges in the state of Ohio. It would also be ideal for anyone traveling to sporting events such as the Ohio State Buckeyes, which I-71 and I-70 is always extremely busy on days of home games. It would also be great for just quick trips to different parts of the Ohio, especially since many people are from different parts of the state.

Whether you are going to use it or not going to use it yourself, it would be nice to have the service available as an alternative mode of transportation. If anyone has ever gone to Europe and used their rail system, one wonders why we don't have a system like them and wishes increased rail service.