ATHENS, Ohio — Athens wasn’t included among proposed passenger rail routes in Ohio that received federal funding for development earlier this month — but that doesn’t mean an Athens stop is off the table.
Four passenger rail routes in Ohio — including a route connecting Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland, known as the 3C+D route — received a substantial funding boost earlier this month. Federal grant awards, made possible by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, will support planning for the four routes.
The selected routes would return passenger rail to Columbus, which currently lacks passenger rail service altogether. The city hasn’t been connected via rail to Cincinnati, home to the state’s nearest operating Amtrak station, since 1967.
“The really good news is that Columbus is now in the federal pipeline to look at whether or not passenger rail is viable,” said Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission Executive Director William Murdock. MORPC oversees the Columbus region’s transportation planning process.
Returning rail service to Columbus increases the chances for further expansion out of Columbus, said Beth Russell, communications director for the passenger rail advocacy group All Aboard Ohio. Russell added that “there’s definitely interest” in returning passenger rail service to Athens.
Last year, MORPC proposed a route connecting Athens and Columbus, along with several others, as “Corridors of Interest.”
Murdock said the recent funding awards give “places like Lancaster and Athens more hope that in the future, if we expand on that system, that there could be that connection. … This is the long game to try to restore passenger rail to all parts of Ohio.”
Russell said, “This first round is really just, I think, the main lines within the state. The 3C+D is a huge, huge line that we need to get going again, and once that line gets going, and we’re able to establish that there’s a lot of interest in it, and ridership is going to to be up on that line, then we’ll be able to move forward with other ones.”
If all goes according to plan, it will still take years for the four recently funded Ohio routes, including the 3c+D route, to become active. And, Murdock said, it will be at least two to three years from now before any additional routes receive funding for development.
The recent funding awards also don’t guarantee that the four routes will become operational. Although the routes that received funding this time will receive priority going forward, Ohio must provide local matching funds to receive subsequent federal funding and move the proposed routes toward operational passenger rail.
Murdock estimated that if “all the stars align,” the new passenger rail routes could become operational in Ohio by 2030.
Murdock said the council successfully supported funding in this round of grants for the 3C+D route as well as route connecting Chicago, Columbus and Pittsburgh. That’s because those two lines “were pretty ready to go forward with next steps” because of significant collaboration and engagement from local leaders and organizations along the routes.
Murdock emphasized that the routes will connect many smaller communities to passenger rail, in addition to major population centers.
The 3C+D route would not offer high-speed service. Amtrak estimates it would take five and a half hours to get from Cincinnati to Cleveland along the line — slower than driving between the cities.
But, Russell said, the passenger rail service would still benefit Ohioans, creating an accessible public transportation option for those who can’t or don’t want to drive.
Both Russell and Murdock said they are optimistic about the possibility of passenger rail returning to Athens.
Murdock said the connection from Columbus to Athens “would be a desirable route, with the university there, and … that connection between Columbus, Lancaster and Athens is one I know withdraw a lot of support.”
“In order to do that, we need to have passenger rail service in and out of Columbus,” Murdock said.
To implement a Columbus-Athens route, local officials would need to address how to re-lay the rails that were ripped up between Athens and Nelsonville, where to locate the city’s train station, and how to best capitalize on the economic development that reconnected rail service would bring, All Aboard Ohio previously told the Independent.
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
