Chicago - Ft. Wayne - Columbus Progress?

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

http://niprarail.org/2016/12/press-relaease-passenger-rail-gains-support-from-federal-rail-administration/

 

[jis]

Good start, but don't see any word of support from any of the owners of the properties that will need to be used.

That quote from RailPAC about service not requiring operating subsidies is a pile of horse manure. We see what happens when there is capital investment money but inadequate or unpredictable operating subsidies all around us - not just in railroads but all infrastructure.

 

[NapTown Jim]

For some reason I thought the proposed C-Bus line was going to run through Indianapolis. Would they have to build a new station in Fort Wayne? Waterloo was the 'Fort Wayne' stop on the LSL but that's too far out to be of practical use to the city. Naturally I would prefer that line to run through Indy. Nothing would please me more than to take my annual trip to the Origins Game Fair in Columbus on a train to play Train Games.

 

[fulham]

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. With Trump and the Republicans in charge, Kasich still Governor of Ohio this is just totally a pipe dream. How many new inter-city services have been started in the last 8 years? Lots of studies...lots of press releases but nothing concrete. Amtrak can't even get the cars and engines it has planned for the current corridor services out of Chicago. I have said this before...if all the monies that have been spent on studies went to actually improving the service we currently have, that would have been a nice benefit for current Amtrak passengers. Let's focus on what we have, try and get the new equipment, improve service and then maybe, just maybe we can look at additional service.

 

[jphjaxfl]

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. With Trump and the Republicans in charge, Kasich still Governor of Ohio this is just totally a pipe dream. How many new inter-city services have been started in the last 8 years? Lots of studies...lots of press releases but nothing concrete. Amtrak can't even get the cars and engines it has planned for the current corridor services out of Chicago. I have said this before...if all the monies that have been spent on studies went to actually improving the service we currently have, that would have been a nice benefit for current Amtrak passengers. Let's focus on what we have, try and get the new equipment, improve service and then maybe, just maybe we can look at additional service.

Right on!

 

[afigg]

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. With Trump and the Republicans in charge, Kasich still Governor of Ohio this is just totally a pipe dream. How many new inter-city services have been started in the last 8 years? Lots of studies...lots of press releases but nothing concrete. Amtrak can't even get the cars and engines it has planned for the current corridor services out of Chicago. I have said this before...if all the monies that have been spent on studies went to actually improving the service we currently have, that would have been a nice benefit for current Amtrak passengers. Let's focus on what we have, try and get the new equipment, improve service and then maybe, just maybe we can look at additional service.

Several comments. One, Kasich is term limited and won't be allowed to run for re-election in 2018. So in 2019, Ohio will have a new Governor who may not be as anti-passenger rail as Kasich. However, Ohio has strongly tilted towards conservative and tea party type Republican control and is likely to remain that way for years to come. So, yea, the odds of this study leading to state funding support for starting a corridor service in the next decade are very small.

If the Chicago - St. Louis and Chicago - Detroit corridor upgrades projects are both actually and visually successful with major ridership growth, that might change the political atmosphere in IN and OH for starting or improving Chicago hub corridor services, but that also will take many years.

As for the cost of all these feasibility studies, their costs is minuscule compared to the cost of starting up a corridor service. Their costs are effectively loose change for a state DOT. That is why there are so many of them. To keep the politicians and interest groups happy, the highway & road focused state DOT can commission a 1 or 2 year feasibility study for passenger rail and transit projects and then put it on the shelf & ignore it. If the state DOT political leadership wants to make sure the study doesn't lead to anything, they can work to sandbag it with high cost estimates.

 

[jis]

My guess is that Indiana will use its limited resources for the time being on (i) the expansion of the CSS&SB system and (ii) on consolidating the Indianapolis Service, without worrying about any expansion beyond the state borders, absent any support from Ohio. My guess is that Fort Wayne will be waiting for quite a while before anything happens. In that sense the article presents an overly optimistic view.

 

[Deni]

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. With Trump and the Republicans in charge, Kasich still Governor of Ohio this is just totally a pipe dream. How many new inter-city services have been started in the last 8 years? Lots of studies...lots of press releases but nothing concrete. Amtrak can't even get the cars and engines it has planned for the current corridor services out of Chicago. I have said this before...if all the monies that have been spent on studies went to actually improving the service we currently have, that would have been a nice benefit for current Amtrak passengers. Let's focus on what we have, try and get the new equipment, improve service and then maybe, just maybe we can look at additional service.

I totally agree with you that this is very, very, very unlikely to happen, especially anytime soon. But it is hard to tell people to focus on what they have when the people pushing for this train are presumably ones who do not have any Amtrak service. Can't blame them for wanting to get service in their areas. Trains like the Heartland Flyer and Maine's Downeaster exists today because of the grassroots work of people a long time ago. You can't really expect people who live in areas without passenger rail to hold off on their push for it until after the people served by Amtrak get theirs improved first.

 

[Deni]

My guess is that Indiana will use its limited resources for the time being on (i) the expansion of the CSS7SB system and (ii) on consolidating the Indianapolis Service, without worrying about any expansion beyond the state borders, absent any support from Ohio. My guess is that Fort Wayne will be waiting for quite a while before anything happens. In that sense the article presents an overly optimistic view.

Well, it is a press release from an advocacy group, not an actual article.

 

[west point]

All these proposals depend on Amtrak and state agencies getting more equipment. Support that first and " MAYBE " we can see that happen.

EDIT:::: more equipment means more total numbers not a tit for tat replacement shuch as the addition of new Baggage cars although total number of usable cars did increase slightly..

 

[neroden]

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. With Trump and the Republicans in charge, Kasich still Governor of Ohio this is just totally a pipe dream. How many new inter-city services have been started in the last 8 years? Lots of studies...lots of press releases but nothing concrete. Amtrak can't even get the cars and engines it has planned for the current corridor services out of Chicago. I have said this before...if all the monies that have been spent on studies went to actually improving the service we currently have, that would have been a nice benefit for current Amtrak passengers. Let's focus on what we have, try and get the new equipment, improve service and then maybe, just maybe we can look at additional service.

Several comments. One, Kasich is term limited and won't be allowed to run for re-election in 2018. So in 2019, Ohio will have a new Governor who may not be as anti-passenger rail as Kasich. However, Ohio has strongly tilted towards conservative and tea party type Republican control and is likely to remain that way for years to come.

The primary problem is that Ohio is actually getting more rural, more suburban, and less urban. It may not surprise you to realize that cities (even small cities) tend to vote in favor of passenger rail and farmland tends to vote against it. Sprawl is not good for rail (...and vice versa, rail is a way to cure sprawl).