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According to a Statehouse source, the 3C Corridor should be officially receiving federal stimulus dollars tomorrow in an announcement following Obama’s State of the Union speech. In October 2009, ODOT and the Ohio Rail Development Commission submitted their application for $563 million to help fund a passenger rail line that would run between Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. More information about the 3C Corridor can be found at 3cisme.ohio.gov. More information about tomorrow’s announcement can be found in a Dispatch article here.
Update #1: Gov. Strickland’s office is planning a news conference today (Thursday) in the Statehouse Rotunda at 1pm. Anyone planning on attending?
Update #2: It’s official. The 3C Corridor is receiving $400M in federal funding.
49 MPH is a lot closer to 50 than 40.
I’ve also seen tickets projected to cost around $20 one way. So $40 round trip. A tank of gas costs me between $35-40 bucks and gives me about 350 miles.
So a tank would get me to Cleveland and back and a bit to run around on. I’d still probably have to top off somewhere. Factor in something like a traffic accident, road construction or weather and the time of travel gets pretty comparable. Plus I can kick back and sleep on the train, read a book or anything that isn’t driving.
I’m holding my breath waiting to see what their bike policy will be.
Hopefully it’s a one time cost, and that the new lines / upgraded lines are actually built to support much faster service in the future
Actually, true high speed service will require passenger trains to be fully separated from freight trains (under current FRA rules), so they will need entirely new tracks. Acela can go fast because it is the only Amtrak corridor in the country that is not shared with freight.
@HogRoaster
I’m not saying I wouldn’t rather have a faster train, but if 3C went true high speed (160MPH +) the entire length it could have taken up all 8 billion set aside for “high” speed train corridors. It’s my understanding that speed will be gradually increased overtime, as this is the *first step* in the line, not the final product. Take a look at this PDF – http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Rail/Programs/passenger/3CisME/Meetings/Documents/3C%20Online%20Public%20Meeting%20Presentation.pdf , in particular page 4.
I do agree with you though about the cost/speed/convenience factors. $100 round trip from Cincinnati to Cleveland for something that will take over two (or three?) hours longer isn’t good. For me it’s all about price, if it could get somewhere close to costing what it would take to drive it will be more successful … or if gas hit $5 a gallon that would help too.
How likely is it someone will be traveling the entire route by rail?
The split between Cleveland-Columbus or Cincinnati-Columbus is projected to be be around $40 and 3 hours travel. I think if we talked that aspect up it’s far more reasonable than a 7 hour $100 trip.
@Lifoontwowheels
I thought the average speed was 39 MPH not 49 MPH, which is it?
so, buckeyechuck in on the Dispatch comment section as well. (I’m guessing it’s the same person. If not, sorry buckeyechuck) From the looks of the majority of the comments, it looks like he has found his support group…………..this is the Dispatch comments we’re talking about here though.
I can’t wait to see plans on the Columbus station!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dayton’s site is too good not to happen… y’know what I mean?
lol @ walker’s (?) lonely “whoo”
Heh. Wasn’t me. The videos were taken by a friend. ;)
Mega Bus, as low as $1.50 cents each way in 2hours 35 minutes to Cincy.
Why would someone ride this train again, nostalgia ?
Is there anything solid on the timeline for when this will be up and running? Thanks in advance.
Ohio has to cough of matching funds, then Ohio has to cough up the financial susidies to operate it.
Given the budget in Ohio, how easy will that be ?
I am completely supportive of smartly designed public transportation. I think we need more of it and the sooner the better. But, I gotta agree with buckeyechuck on this medium speed plan. I think the plan is awful and bound to fail. I really doubt that a large number of people will be willing to pay the same amount as a tank of gas to sit on a 49mph train for hours while also dealing with long term parking, added station time, losing the scheduling freedom of a car, finding transportation in the destination city, etc. It HAS to be faster and more convenient or else significantly cheaper to work. I also worry that when the medium speed plan fails, public opinion will not be: ‘medium speed trains do not work in Ohio’ it will be ‘ALL trains/rail does not work in Ohio’
This is just my opinion, I have no links to data to back this up but I do have one personal example: Last year I went to Chicago. On the way there we drove to Indy and took Amtrak up. I can say that it was a novel experience to ride on a train but not one I would care to repeat. We sat in the station for an extra hour due to a train delay. The trip up was painfully slow and the train itself was frigidly cold. For our trip back we caught a Megabus out of downtown Chicago to Indy, then the drive back to Columbus. I would take Megabus again in a heartbeat and have recommended it to others. That driver was movin, the seats were comfy, the bus new and much less crowded, not to mention way cheaper.
I think the $400M would be much better spent on actual high speed rail. Why sink money into technology that is already old? Even if the $400M is only a small fraction of what high speed will ultimately cost at least we would still be using that system in 10 – 15 years as opposed to a system we know going in is only going to be abandoned.
I am confused about the economics (and thus viability) of this. Who exactly is the target audience for these trips? To wit,
a) While 40$ r/t is a rough equivalent for a solo driver, it quickly becomes a less reasonable alternative for a couple or a family or a group.
b) The hours proposed strike me as not particularly useful for a business traveler, at least going from CMH. Whenever we’ve had business in either city, we’ve returned to Columbus well after 3pm. In today’s economy, I would use virtual meetings in lieu of a working day spent with only a couple hours of face time. More often than not, a business trip to either city is made late in the day with a return after dinner. It does strike me that the hours may very well be more conducive to people who need to come to the capital and return.
c) Combining a + b, the hours and costs (for a family) are definitely not conducive to attending sporting events or concerts. Speaking for myself, going to see a game in either city would be a top usage given how the parking hassles and costs would negated. I would gladly pay the extra tariff, but the hours don’t work.
I am not reflexively opposed to the idea and do think that we need to explore alternatives in transportation.
A.
So let’s sell the name of the station to AEP and make it an amazing facility? No?
Civic pride perhaps? Columbus Union Station? Maybe
K&M, 39 mph average isn’t even a medium speed train. It’s frickin’ slow.
Look at what California got today, they are so far advanced on this idea. They will have trains traveling at 220 mph soon. The voters approved the bonds and the state matching money is already there.
Los Angeles to San Diego in 45 minutes versus 4 hours on the worlds largest parking lot I- 5.
They are ready to rock and roll.
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/
http://cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/images/chsr/20100128080954_GovPressRelease01-28-10.pdf
And I’ve heard in the New York to DC corridor, the trains are going to break the sound barrier soon!
Seriously, though, Andrew’s points are well taken. I’m a big fan of rail travel, but I really wonder whether these plans reflect likely peak usage.
So, what from I’ve read, the Columbus station is going to be UNDER the convention center. Where exactly. I was under the impression that the station would somehow fill the hole in front of the convention center. I hope they just don’t build an escalator down to a covered platform. If so, it sounds like a muggers paradise to me. It can be a nice station if they design it well. It needs to be safe, well lit, enclosed and somewhat eye catching. Spruce up the entrance at street level. I suppose it wouldn’t be any different than coming up from a subway station. I won’t judge until I see it, which is hopefully soon. If this is “shovel ready” like they claim, then the station should be pretty much designed.
I think the station should be between the 3rd and 4th street overpass of 670. You could have direct freeway access, convert the 2 streets to 2 way and have a connection to the convention center and get rid of a surface parking lot. I still think this whole thing is a boondoggle but I want it to succeed, but I don’t think it will.
As a side note, since we all know government will be subsidizing this, there should be a “casino car” where one could gamble that would help lower the cost of a ticket. Anyone think Penn National would go for this?
Why do most people who are against the trains completely ignore the facts about how fast they will go? Don’t use it as an argument against the train if you can’t use the correct speed they will be going.