Posted on 07/16/2010 5:53:47 PM PDT by Willie Green
SHARONVILLE — Officials in Sharonville have applied to be one of four additional stops along a passenger rail service expected to come to Ohio.
To promote the idea and help locals understand the benefits, an official from northern New England led a forum Thursday, July 15, in Sharonville.
“It’s not a novelty, it’s a mode of transportation,” said Patricia Quinn, executive director of Downeaster, a rail service in northern New England. Downeaster launched in 1995 and makes five round trips between Portland, Maine and Boston on a daily basis.
The highest cost for a round-trip ticket is $48, and the highest speed it can travel is 79 miles per hour, matching the top speed of the possible train connecting Ohio’s major metro cities.
If the rail system is built in Ohio, it is estimated that more than 250 immediate construction jobs will result from the project, in addition to 8,000 indirect jobs in the state. Eight stations are planned, with one stop in each Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus, and four additional spots along those routes. Sharonville officials are applying for one of the four additional stops, explained Sharonville Economic Director Tammy Riddle.
Travel time via the train system between Portland, Maine and Boston takes about 30 more minutes than driving the route would, but one of the differences is also the quality of life the train provides, Quinn said.
High gas prices led to ridership hitting its peak in the 2008 fiscal year, when just over 450,000 people rode the train; just a year before in 2007, ridership was nearly 350,000.
The train was a $78 million-dollar project and took 12 years to get off the ground, Quinn said. Its 2010 estimated budget is $14 million, but only $6.5 million of that being generated, leaving a shortfall of half of its budget.
“Public transportation doesn’t pay for itself .... $6.5 million dollars is a lot to ask for taxpayers and the state of Maine to pay.”
Still, Quinn said the state will see $76 million back from taxes generated by the rail system.
“Policy makers have recognized that the benefits outweigh the costs,” she said.
It looks like Sharonville would be a wonderful stop for this train!!!
There’s NOTHING great in Sharonville.
They don’t need a damn train.
“Its 2010 estimated budget is $14 million, but only $6.5 million of that being generated, leaving a shortfall of half of its budget.”
Yet somehow this still makes sense to some people.
Eight stations. Four you’ve heard of. Is the plan to make the other four ones no one has heard of? I think the idea is to have a reason for a station.
Way too small to worry about. They should linit the stops to places where people might actually get on like towns that are larger than 20,000 residents or larger.
linit = limit
Ford has/had a transmission plant there I believe.
Assuming their ridership is around 400,000 per year - midway between the peak in 2008 and their 2007 ridership, they lose $18.75 per rider, or $625,000 per month. Each train round trip loses a little over $4,000. They lose almost $21,000 per day. And the director of the train thinks this is fine - after all some illusory "benefit" supposedly is worth spending $20,000 per day on.
Of course the director never considers how the rest of us who are paying the $20,000 per day could more profitably use the money, or the benefits that could come from spending $7.5 million dollars per year on something other than a train which takes 1/2 hour longer than a car to get from Boston to Portland.
The Downeaster is also a pathetic loser that provides transportation for a few dozen commuters and a handfull or rail fans. It was a bone thrown to the Boston North Station community when they couldn’t be linked to South Station and the only profitable passenger route in the country - the Boston - NY - DC corridor.
Wow ! Sharonville ! This could make billions !
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