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RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF PASSENGER RAIL EXPANSION IN THE CENTRAL OHIO REGION.
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WHEREAS, Ohio, with only three Amtrak routes -- two confined mostly to the northern edge of the state -- sees only 32 passenger trains crossing the state per week. It has far fewer intercity or regional passenger rail services than any of its neighbors except Kentucky; and
WHEREAS, Ohio, the nation's seventh-most populous state is only the 27th highest Amtrak ridership state and has the lowest ratio of Amtrak riders per resident of the top-10 most populous states, according to Amtrak; and
WHEREAS, among the top-10 most populous states near Ohio, Amtrak riders per 1,000 residents are 42 in Michigan, 186 in Illinois, 258 in Pennsylvania and 322 in New York compared to just 6 Amtrak riders per 1,000 residents in Ohio; and
WHEREAS, Ohio is the most populous state in the nation without any ongoing passenger rail development or operating program as it has no funds budgeted for passenger rail development in the currently proposed Ohio Department of Transportation biennial budget - making it the sixth such biennial budget in a row with no funding for passenger rail planning, development or operations; and
WHEREAS, Ohio, because of its legacy industrial status, has the fifth-most railroad industrial supplier employment in the nation according to the Ohio Department of Transportation; and
WHEREAS, Amtrak reports that it spent $40 million in 2019 on goods and services purchased from Ohio railroad industry suppliers, mostly for the provision and improvement of passenger rail services outside of Ohio meanwhile Amtrak in 2019 spent $667 million on goods and services from suppliers in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia for an average of $111 million for each of those six states; and
WHEREAS, at the end of 2019 Amtrak employed 32 people in Kentucky and West Virginia, 196 people in Michigan, 747 in Indiana, 1,284 in Illinois, 1,578 in New York and 2,700 in ...
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