In order to comply with federal requirements, the Ohio Rail Development Commission, or ORDC, on Friday approved its updated 2019 Rail Plan. It is designated to show how rail fits into the state’s vision for a multimodal transportation system. The 162-page document lists zero passenger rail capital projects, compared with 103 projects centered on freight rail.

Two studies independent of each other, one by the Ability Center in 2023 the other the Ohio Statewide Transportation Preference Survey in 2024, had more than 78 percent of respondents wanting increased passenger rail across the entire state of Ohio.

The state rail plan reasons that the evaluation of passenger rail expansion is more convoluted than freight rail, given that Ohio already has a broad freight rail network and scant passe

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