Highway congestion and inefficiencies in air travel have inhibited mobility and reduced the utility of the transportation system. As a result, transportation departments have focused increased attention on improving the railroad system for both passenger and freight trains.

Ohio’s new vision of high-speed rail is aimed at 200 to 400 mile trips – an intercity market where rail can add capacity and be time competitive with air and auto. This mileage and time frame is one of the most inadequately served markets in Ohio and our region by commuter airlines. An intercity rapid rail system could overcome this impediment by boarding passengers in both urban and suburban stops, which include Ohio’s major airports.

The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) recognized the potential for intercity passenger rail service and completed a feasibility study of a regional rail system of four corridors with a central hub in Cleveland. The study goal was to determine, at a conceptual level, the financial and economic feasibility of developing a system serving four intercity travel corridors:

• Cleveland - Columbus - Dayton - Cincinnati
• Cleveland - Toledo - Detroit
• Cleveland - Pittsburgh
• Cleveland - Buffalo - Niagra Falls - Toronto

For the full feasibility study (pdf 4 MB) on the Ohio Hub high-speed passenger rail line.