Saturday, April 29, 2000
Lebanon may pay to fix train tracks
By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A scenic train that left town this spring after the city-owned tracks were declared unsafe could return by July. The question is, at what cost to Lebanon.
The city and Turtle Creek Valley Railway are hammering out a contract to share the cost of repairs, railway manager Guy Marino said Friday. Right now the railway is running its one-hour tours of the Warren County countryside out of Mason, but Mr. Marino said he's eager to return to Lebanon.
The city's eager to have the tourist attraction back, City Councilman Mark Flick said. He plans to poll the rest of council about starting to take bids for the repairs, he said this week.
“When you bring 30,000 visitors to town a year ... it's certainly an important aspect to your tourism,” Mr. Flick said.
Joan Townsend, a spokeswoman for the Downtown Merchants Association, agreed shops near the train's downtown depot would like to see it return.
The city's four miles of track have been deemed too
dilapidated for passenger traffic. Lebanon has applied for a grant from the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments for 80 percent of the estimated $300,000 cost of repairs but won't know a decision until mid-May, City Manager James Patrick said.
If the grant falls through, the city could drop the project even after bids are taken, Mr. Flick said. It's also possible the city could come up with $80,000 to complete the highest-priority repairs so the tracks could be used this year, he said.
That work should take about a month, Mr. Flick said.
Councilman James Reinhard, however, said voters should make the decision about repairing the tracks if the grant is denied.
“You're talking about something that's a good deal of money that's not necessarily in the best interests of the public as a whole,” he said.
Mr. Marino said the railway will help with whatever repair costs the city shoulders. The attraction also will give the city a cut of each ticket sold, he said, declining to give specific percentages on either item.
The expense- and revenue-sharing is part of Mr. Marino's plan to forge a closer working relationship with city officials and merchants.
“I'm realizing there was a serious lack of involvement on our part,” said Mr. Marino, who took over as head of the railway this year.
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