Wednesday, February 03, 1999
Cold, hard look for regional rail
Proposals to be examined at public hearing
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati city leaders and residents will meet Thursday to talk about commuter rail in the region.
The lightweight, diesel-powered trains that Councilman Todd Portune proposed last year are one of several mass-transportation options being discussed in the region.
Light-rail, which uses electricity to power trains, is being studied along the Interstate 71 corridor and the U.S. Department of Transportation last week designated a high-speed train corridor between Cincinnati and Chicago.
“There is a lot of momentum building that we need to take advantage of,” Mr. Portune said.
Community Development and Intergovernmental Committee members and Public Works and Utilities Committee members will hold a public hearing on commuter rail at 7 p.m. Thursday in Cincinnati City Council chambers, 801 Plum Street.
The proposed commuter rail line would run from Lunken Airport to Lawrenceburg, Ind.
But questions still need to be answered.
“There is the question of how much it will cost and where the money would come from,” said Councilman Phil Heimlich, who chairs the Community Development and Intergovernmental committee.
Building an east-west commuter line would be cheaper than the proposed $1.1 billion light-rail system along I-71. Lightweight diesel trains could use the same tracks that freight trains use. About a one-mile link is missing in downtown Cincinnati to bring together the two east-west lines. The I-71 light rail proposed from Northern Kentucky to Paramount's Kings Island calls for new tracks.
The eastern portion of the commuter rail proposal is in line with an Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) proposal to ease congestion in Greater Cincinnati's Eastern Corridor.
That study calls for commuter rail on existing tracks from downtown Cincinnati, past Lunken Airport to Interstate 275 in Clermont County near Milford. OKI has estimated it would cost $231 million for commuter rail from downtown to Milford.
But Mr. Heimlich said he questions if a line from downtown to Lawrenceburg is the best way to serve west-side commuters. He wants to know if a line along Interstate 74 and 75 corridors would be better because they are closer to the growth.
In December, Deputy Cincinnati City Manager Richard Mendes said now isn't the time to launch a commuter line from Lawrenceburg to downtown Cincinnati. He supported the I-71 and eastern corridor lines, but said OKI studies didn't seem to show an immediate need for the western line.
Mr. Portune says that's a misconception he hopes to clear up at Thursday's meeting.
“It's about a fully intergrated system that is intended to be complementary to the I-71 corridor,” Mr. Portune said. “The general idea here is to be smart about mass transportation and to go forward with a fully intergrated transportation system. ...”
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