Tue Feb 09 2010
By JARED ORZOLEK
Defiance residents could someday travel west toward Chicago or east to Cleveland via high speed passenger trains if a proposal to improve the Maumee and Western Railway corridor is realized.
The federal government has made $8 billion available for improvements to the nation's railway system through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly called the stimulus bill.
Proposals regarding this funding are due July 10 to the Federal Rail Administration, according to Jerry Hayes of the Defiance County Economic Development Office.
Hayes said he is working with railroad and local government officials to include high speed passenger rail service through Defiance on the list of projects to be funded.
Hayes said Ohio's top priority seems to be construction of a rail passenger service route that will serve Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, but he is hopeful that funds will also be allocated to perform design work and an environmental impact study on an east-west high speed rail route which would travel through Defiance on the way to Chicago. The designated route passes through Napoleon, Defiance and Antwerp in NW Ohio.
"What's put Defiance on the route path is the existing short line railroad between Liberty Center and Fort Wayne," Hayes said, explaining that the Maumee and Western Railroad that travels through Defiance could be upgraded as part of the east-west line. "There is too much freight traffic on the existing Amtrak route between Toledo and Chicago and it will actually be less costly to improve the short line route for passenger service rather than to try to squeeze more trains onto the existing rail corridor."
Hayes cited a 2002 study by the Midwest Rail Passenger Association, ODOT and INDOT that indicated the Maumee and Western Railroad is the preferred route through Ohio.
"We are working to make sure the Maumee and Western route stays the preferred route," Hayes said.
Hayes said once the railway project applications are submitted to Federal Rail Administration it could take close to 90 days for the FRA to review projects and decide which rail projects should receive the initial funding allocations.
Construction of stimulus-related railroad improvements could take place by 2012 according to a timetable announced by the Obama administration.
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