Amtrak Expansion

On December 5, 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration announced funding to support new Amtrak service in Ohio on three corridors:

3C+D

This route is the State of Ohio's biggest priority, and it might be the first of these tracks to get into service.

Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit

This new service connects Cleveland to Detroit, and on the basis of Amtrak's planning notes, I've extended it to Pontiac.

Chicago-Pittsburgh

This route was sponsored not by the State of Ohio, but by the Northern Indiana Passenger Rail Association and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. The route follows existing freight rail tracks, but requires extensive maintenance before passenger rail can begin.

Dallas-NYC

This is a rouh approximation of a line between Dallas and NYC, based on Amtrak planning.

New Orleans-Detroit

This proposed route was identified in the 2024 FRA Long-Distance Rail Study.

The announcement also included an increase in trains on the Chicago-Cleveland-DC-NYC Cardinal line, to daily service.

New Stop Locations

Click around the map for more details on these station locations, and on the route of the trains. This list isn’t official; there’s still years of planning and construction work yet to come. But it’s my best guess, based on existing track locations and public statements by planners.

New stations on the the 3C+D line are based on an Amtrak handout about the 3C+D line¹, with support from the ORDC Rail Map and the Hilliard station study²:

• Sharonville
• Dayton
• Springfield
• Greater Columbus Convention Center
• Delaware — on US 36, not at the historic location in Downtown Delaware
• Crestline
• Cleveland Hopkins International Airport — not actually at the airport, but at the Puritas light-rail station, a couple miles north-northeast of the airport.

New stations for the Chicago-Pittsburgh route are based on the stops mentioned in Senator Brown’s announcement of Chicago-Fort Wayne-Columbus-Pittsburgh³.

• Hobart, Indiana — has a historic station that could be reopened.
• Gary, Indiana — is already served by Amtrak, but with the way the tracks are laid out, Gary will require either a new station for service on the Chicago-Pittsburgh line, or it will require laying new tracks to connect the existing station to the rail line that services Hobart and points east.
• Valparaiso, Indiana
• Plymouth, Indiana
• Warsaw, Indiana — has a historic station that could be refurbished and reopened.
• Fort Wayne, Indiana — has a historic station that could be reopened.
• Lima, Ohio — has a historic station that could be reopened.
• Kenton, Ohio
• Marysville, Ohio
• Dublin, Ohio — not in Amtrak’s plans, but the City of Dublin is moving ahead with plans.
• Hilliard, Ohio — not in Amtrak’s plans, but the City of Hilliard is moving ahead with plans. Two locations are identified; they’re on opposite sides of the tracks from each other².
• Greater Columbus Convention Center, Ohio — The designs for this station are already made, and recent construction at the Convention Center has reserved space for this station.
• John Glenn Columbus International Airport, Ohio — I guess this is the most logical location for a multi-modal transportation center in Columbus. Certainly not some gas station in Hilltop.
• Newark, Ohio
• Coshocton, Ohio
• Newcomerstown, Ohio
• Uhrichsville, Ohio — has a historic station in active use as a museum, which could be reopened.
• Steubenville, Ohio

New station locations for the Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit line are based on those mentioned in Amtrak’s Cleveland-Detroit-Pontiac planning document⁴:

• Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
• Detroit Airport

New station locations for the Dallas-NYC line are based on the findings of the Amtrak Long-Distance Rail Service Study, as announced in February 2024:

• Tulsa Union Depot: Closed in 1979
• Terre Haute Station: Closed in 1979

New station locations for the New Orleans-Detroit line are based on the findings of the Amtrak Long-Distance Rail Service Study, as announced in February 2024:

• Mobile, Alabama
• Montgomery, Alabama
• Nashville Union Station, Tennessee: Currently used as a hotel.
• Bowling Green Historic Railpark and Train Museum: Currently a museum.
• Louisville, Kentucky: Intermittently in service, but currently used as offices for the Transit Authority of River City.

Next steps

According to the Ohio chapter of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, these are the steps:

1. Scoping: The sponsors will review the Statement of Work framework from their application and develop scope, schedle, and budget for the Corridor Service Development Plan (SDP). This accounts for any work already started at the time of the announcement. This work can begin immediately, and determines the cost of the second step.
2. Ironing out the details: The sponsors will develop their SDP for the corridor. This will include choices about route, capital expenditures like stations and support facilities, and phases of implementation. This is done in cooperation with the FRA and will determine the cost of the third step.
3. Final design: Step three is the final stage of the process and includes an engineering and environmental design plan. At the end of step three, the sponsor will be able to establish a concrete design schedule and know their construction costs. Once completed and approved, the next step is construction!

And construction may take years. When will we get trains? BLET Ohio chairman Joh Esterly said: “It all depends on the funding for Steps 2 and 3. Optimistically, we’ll have humans on trains by the end of the decade.” Worst case? “Maybe 2035?”

Revisions

08 December 2023

Initial publication

08 December 2023

Revisions to Delaware and Cleveland Hopkins Airport stations, thanks to /u/janna15. Added the Dublin station, thanks to /u/TYouMissedCBus

19 April 2024

Added Dallas-NYC and New Orleans-Detroit lines from February 2024 announcements. Added the

References

If you think I’ve got something wrong here, let me know. Either open an issue on GitHub or send me a message.