Ohio transportation official: Trains create jobs

By MATT LEINGANG

COLUMBUS, Ohio

Ohio's plan to restore passenger train service, a project facing criticism from some Republican lawmakers, is a historic opportunity to create jobs around an emerging industry, the state's top transportation official said Wednesday.

Jolene Molitoris, director of the state Transportation Department, made an economic case for the train project, which aims to use $400 million in federal stimulus money for a startup, 79-mph service connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

"It is a proven job-creation engine," Molitoris said in a speech to the Columbus Metropolitan Club.

She cited examples in states where passenger rail projects sparked the development of condos, restaurants and other businesses around train stations.

In Saco, Maine, a developer is spending $110 million to turn an old mill into condos and an office park next to a new Amtrak station that picks up travelers along a rail corridor that runs to Boston, she said.

Molitoris, who was director of the Federal Rail Administration during the Clinton administration, said she was confident Ohio's project would work.

Amtrak released a study last year projecting ridership on the route at 478,000 during the first year of operations. About six million people live along the Cleveland to Cincinnati corridor, making it one of the most heavily populated corridors without rail service in the Midwest.

Private rail service among Ohio's major cities ended about 40 years ago, making train travel seem novel and unfamiliar to some Ohioans, but it's working across the U.S., Molitoris said. Fifteen states already have contracts with Amtrak to support the kind of conventional-speed service that Ohio is after.

Ohio aims to get trains running in 2012, laying the foundation for a future 110-mph service with branches connecting to a Chicago-based Midwest corridor and cities on the East Coast.

Molitoris said her agency is working on a response to Senate President Bill Harris, a Republican who last month released a 20-page letter raising numerous questions about the rail project, including whether the ridership estimates are sound and if the state can afford the estimated $17 million a year operating subsidy.

The state's rail plan outlines various revenue streams, including advertising and federal grants that the agency already has within its budget.

Molitoris said she takes Harris' concerns seriously and looks forward to presenting him with the answers to his questions, though she didn't commit to a date. She also wouldn't say when she would take the project to the state Controlling Board for approval.

Democrats control the board 4-3, but they will need at least one Republican to vote yes because Senate Republicans placed an amendment in Ohio's transportation budget last year requiring a supermajority vote.

Molitoris said she believes her agency has earned a good deal of trust for the way it has managed almost $1 billion in other stimulus money for roads and bridges. The stimulus money will help make 2010 the largest construction season in state history.

Checks and balances at both the state and federal level will ensure accountability for Ohio's passenger train project, she said.

Molitoris was director of the Federal Rail Administration when Amtrak launched the Acela Express, the only truly high-speed rail service in the U.S. The trains, which began running in 2000, operate between Washington and Boston and can reach speeds of 150 mph.