HAMILTON — City leaders made a colossal error 50 years ago by choosing not to link the city with the interstate highway system, officials say.

        Now, as leaders struggle to kick-start economic development, they don't want to compound that old mistake by being left out of the loop on a proposal for a commuter rail system linking Cincinnati to Dayton.

        The system was going to swing west for a stop in Hamilton, but now may snake straight down the existing north-south rail corridor and stop instead in West Chester at a yet-to-be-determined area. It would be cheaper to build, and save time for riders to stop in West Chester, according to some proponents.

        “We are mustering our forces,” Hamilton City Councilman Richard Holzberger said. “We can't afford to miss this rail opportunity. We have a greater need than affluent West Chester.”

        Hamilton, Fairfield and Middletown elected officials will meet at 6 p.m. today at the Hamiltonian Hotel to discuss the issue and develop ways to keep the commuter rail stop.

        Though a commuter rail system linking Cincinnati and Dayton is still at least 25 years off, officials with the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments and Ohio Rail Development Commission have been holding community forums to develop plans.

        The overall system would link four major Ohio cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

        The ORDC eventually will take a final route plan to federal officials for approval and funding.

        But first, at OKI's June 19 meeting at its downtown Cincinnati headquarters, members of a north-south initiative task force made up of regional leaders are expected to vote on the route.

        The original proposed route had been planned to come down the north-south rail track via Middletown, then swing west to Hamilton for a stop before going on to the Springdale/Interstate 275 area, ending at Union Terminal west of downtown.

        West Chester Township Trustee Catherine Stoker said the township has the county's highest park-and-ride participation in the Butler County Regional Transit Authority and would heavily use a commuter rail system.

        Hamilton already has a transportation link to Interstate 75 to generate more jobs — the Michael A. Fox Highway, she noted.

        “They built a $150 million highway and that didn't work,” she said. “Now they are going to build a multimillion-dollar rail system. They should worry more about improving their school system and crime rate,” she said of Hamilton officials. “Nobody is going to build a $50 million plant when the value of the property is either stagnant or going down.”

        The system is one of two transit offerings in early planning stages. A light rail system has been proposed to run along Interstate 71 from Blue Ash to downtown Cincinnati in the first phase. That line would eventually extend to Paramount's Kings Island in Warren County.

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