Cleveland Intercity or Commuter Rail

What cities or towns do you think would benefit from a commuter or intercity rail connection with Cleveland?

That's an awfully broad question, redshirt. Columbus and Cincinatti have been spoken about, but that was nixed by Kasich. The speeds proposed haven't been very high, and neither was the ridership. There are definitely areas that could benefit; what do you think?

I would ride Buffalo-Cleveland-Detroit a couple times a year if it were available as a daytime service. (Toronto-Buffalo-Cleveland would be even better for me)

Same for Pittsburgh-Cleveland

Pittsburgh-Cleveland sounds good (I've looked into it myself) as do Toronto- Buffalo-Cleveland. I know that there where proposals for a commuter line to Sandusky, but nothing seems to have come of it.

Despite Gov. Kasich's canceling of the 3C line, The Ohio Hub site is still active. Check out The Ohio Hub: Maps there. It has all the possibilities that the others here have mentioned: the 3C line, C - Pittsburgh, C - Detroit, and C - Buffalo.

I'd ride Columbus-Syracuse intermittently. 3C was a good plan.

The 3-C route has the traffic potential to warrant multi-trip bi-directional service. Unfortunately, the plan as presented was a disaster for advocates of rail passenger service.

A 38mph average speed and 6'-plus transit time could not be taken seriously, especially when the New York Central had 5' service in the 1930's - 1960's which included time for an engine change at Linndale (when Cleveland Union Terminal was electrified) as well as for several speed restrictions en route.

To be successful, a present-day service should have East and West Side suburban stops in the Cleveland metropolitan area as well as northside Columus-area stops for Worthington and O.S.U.

Also, the Cincinnati station should not be located away from the downtown area as was originally proposed.

Redshirt214 wrote:What cities or towns do you think would benefit from a commuter or intercity rail connection with Cleveland?

Pittsburgh (especially 2 Sundays a year, a Sunday and Monday night, a Sunday and a Thursday night, or a Monday night and Thursday night).

Despite having three big cities, Toledo, and the dense NE Ohio area, as well as Pittsburgh nearby, the state has a number of physical, political, and mental hurldes against it ever seeing much more in the way of trains.

Politically, Ohio has never really like train service.

Physically, Ohio was once the domain of PC and EL. That means overbuilding, then abandonment or downgrading. A lot of the passenger train trackage is now gone. The metro areas are also fairly spread out, and neither Cleveland or Cinci have a concentration of downtown biz like Chicago or New York.

Mentally, Ohioans are quite used to driving to work and the flexibility that affords. A lot work for the big three or big three subcontractors, so it's a situation similar to Detroit.

Cleveland's RTA commuter/rapid transit has a serious lack of interest (and other than the airport, doesn't go much of anywhere).