The latest draft of , the biennial state budget, has proponents of expanded passenger rail concerned.
Ohio Senate lawmakers again removed two $25,000 earmarks for the state to join the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission (MIPRC), included in the House鈥檚 version of HB 96, because of leaders鈥� concerns about whether Ohio would surrender some legislative authority by joining.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 say that we鈥檙e anti-passenger rail, necessarily, but we鈥檙e also not going to hand over state authority to a third party that we really are kind of unfamiliar with,鈥� Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said last week.
In 2013, the state relinquished its MIPRC member status under Republican former Gov. John Kasich, and according to a news release from the Democratic caucus at the time, didn鈥檛 settle member fee debt for some time after. The decision came after Kasich turned down $400 million in federal grants for an Amtrak line running from Cleveland to Cincinnati.
Additionally, HB 96 would reorganize the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) by eliminating the passenger rail representative鈥檚 seat, which has sat vacant for some time, and replacing it with a second freight rail representative. The freight representatives would not have to live in Ohio.
John Esterly, chairman of the State Legislative Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said in an interview Friday that he鈥檚 not against additional perspective from freight rail interests. He believes it shouldn鈥檛 come at this cost.
鈥淔ederal dollars are going to continue to get more and more competitive,鈥� Esterly said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been told by our federal partners that one of the things that they鈥檙e going to look at is how prepared the state is to support expansion of passenger rail and we kind of see this as a step in the opposite direction.鈥�
The U.S. Department of Transportation has been studying four new Amtrak routes with Ohio service since 2024.
Two potential state-sponsored projects鈥攐ne connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, called the 3C&D, and another connecting Cleveland to Detroit through Toledo鈥攚ere among those in the first phase of the corridor identification program. The ORDC will pull the second phase of state funds from its budget.