Commissioners back commuter rail in NEO

ELYRIA — A plan for a commuter rail system between Cleveland and Vermilion – and perhaps as far as Sandusky — keeps inching ahead.

A private group called the Northern Ohio Commuter Rail Coalition has raised half of the $70,000 in local matching money needed to access the $343,000 federal earmark designed for a study of the proposed commuter rail project.

Even in a down economy, dozens of small donors are contributing toward the local share, said Pat Petrigan, chair of a steering committee for the public-private partnership called West Shore Commuter Rail.

The county commissioners announced at Thursday’s meeting that they were partnering up with Petrigan’s group, which has support from businessmen Anthony and Bob Campana and from Vermilion Mayor Jean Anderson.

Anderson told commissioners that she can’t walk around Vermilion without people questioning her about when they’ll be able to hop on a commuter train. And Petrigan, citing rail systems in other countries, said he thought the line would spur economic development.

“We are so far behind the rest of the industrial world, it’s incredible,” Petrigan said.

County Commissioner Betty Blair expressed enthusiasm and said the project would be perfect for stimulus money.

“This was in the works before stimulus was even mentioned,” Blair said.

In Lorain County, Blair envisions stops in Vermilion, Lorain, Sheffield Lake or Sheffield, and Avon or Avon Lake. She said commuters could hop a train east to Cleveland for work or to attend a Browns game or a train west to Cedar Point.

If deemed feasible, the federal government would be asked to shell out the money for train cars, staffing and to set up stations. In Lorain, a station already has been built at Black River Landing, Blair said.

A 2000 study said it would cost about $100 million to start commuter rail between Cleveland and Lorain, said Ken Prendergast, executive director of All Aboard Ohio, who was not at Thursday’s meeting but was contacted afterward.

He said the $343,000 earmark through the Federal Transportation Administration and $70,000 in matching money would pay for the studies needed to finalize a route for the railway, which would largely follow the lightly-used Norfolk-Southern railroad.

After arriving at the West Boulevard Rapid Transit Station in Cleveland, it would either follow the railroad tracks to the lakefront or switch over to the Regional Transit Authority’s Red Line to Tower City, he said.

In addition to the route, the study would determine the best options for a train, such as use a diesel rail engine or an electric-powered train, Prendergast said.

Prendergast said 20,000 people daily ride light rail run by the RTA in Cleveland. Ridership increased 10 percent when gasoline surged to $4 a gallon, and RTA held onto the gains even when fuel costs dropped, he said.

Cindy Leise | The Chronicle-Telegram