Archive -- Ohio State Rail Plan Meeting

Please attend and participate in a public meeting on Ohio's Statewide Rail Plan to be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday Jan. 16 in Columbus. The meeting will be held by the Policy Committee of the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) in Room GB at the HQ of the Ohio Department of Transportation, 1980 West Broad Street (US 40), just west of its interchange with I-70. A regular ORDC meeting will follow at 11 a.m.

The State Rail Plan is a federally required document that must be updated at least every five years. Future rail activities by each state are generally guided by this document, so if a desired initiative or program is not in a state's rail plan, it makes it more difficult for the state to undertake it in the coming years. That includes passenger rail service which we hope will again return to the state's agenda after the gubernatorial election this fall.

All Aboard Ohio Chairman Jack Shaner will speak at this meeting on behalf of the organization and present our recent "Immediate Needs" report and will encourage the exciting findings of the Federal Railroad Administration's Midwest Regional Rail Plan to be included in this report. For more on these two items, please see:

AAO Immediate Needs report: http://allaboardohio.org/2017/02/18/report-issued-on-ohio-passenger-rail-immediate-needs/
FRA Midwest Regional Rail Plan: https://www.midwestrailplan.org/

We encourage you to attend and speak on behalf of a variety of rail and/or non-rail organizations, interests and groups (or simply speaking as a concerned citizen, too!) in your areas, even though you are all active All Aboard Ohio members. It will make it clear to the Ohio Rail Development Commission that there is a wide cross-section of Ohioans asking for passenger rail development in this state, not just AAO.

You may also submit comments in writing to ORDC at the ODOT address below. Please keep your remarks brief, respectful and factual. While general data is useful, sharing personal stories shows how a lack of passenger rail service in Ohio directly affects us and our quality of life.

DETAILS:

Ohio Rail Development Commission Meeting

Tuesday, January 16th, 2018
11:00am
at The Ohio Department of Transportation
1980 West Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio
in Room GB

The Policy Committee will hold a public input session for the State Rail Plan.
This meeting is open to the public and will begin at 10am in Room GB.

For more information contact:
Julianne Finnegan
Public Information Officer
Ohio Rail Development Commission
614-728-9497
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/divisions/rail/Pages/defa