The Federal Railroad Administration has determined that the two Ohio Rail Development Commission-sponsored corridors must perform additional work as part of the federal agency’s Step 2 process, according to an agenda for an upcoming agency meeting.
Originally, the federal agency’s deliverable for Step 2 was a single Service Development Plan. The plan would identify the key components of a corridor passenger rail service, including ridership, infrastructure and equipment needs, agreements with host railroads, and projected revenues and costs.
However, the FRA now wants Ohio officials to perform a high-level analysis examining markets, equipment needs, and station locations. Officials have indicated that the analysis will not include coordination with the host freight railroads or the capital costs associated with the infrastructure improvements needed.
Because both the Cincinnati-Dayton-Columbus-Cleveland, also called 3C&D, and Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit, also called CTD, routes exclusively use major Class 1 railroad infrastructure, much of the analysis will not be performed in this interim step. The Ohio Rail Development Commission staff recently received draft documents, which its consultants are editing to include Ohio-specific criteria as outlined in our initial application.
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