HAMILTON, Ohio — Hamilton community and business leaders plan to make their pitch to lawmakers in Columbus late next month, making the city’s case for one ― if not two ― Amtrak passenger rail stops.
Last year, the Federal Railroad Administration selected for Ohio routes as it relates to Amtrak’s eventual expansion in the Buckeye State, including investing $500,000 to explore each route.
The 3C+D corridor, which would connect Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland, shows a possible stop in Hamilton. This stop could either be at the former Beckett Paper site, which is off Heaton Avenue, or next to the relocated former CSX train depot on Maple Avenue.
The other possible stop is the east-west Cardinal line that connects Chicago, Indianapolis and New York City. Oxford has already been approve a stop along the Cardinal, and Hamilton is being considered for another stop. The Cardinal stop in Hamilton could be next to Symmes Park at Sycamore and South Third streets.
Hamilton City Councilmember Michael Ryan has been the city’s liaison championing Amtrak stops in Hamilton, even dubbing the effort “Hamtrak.” A feasibility study will be completed by AECOM, a firm that “is well versed in passenger rail engineering studies.” The feasibility study will begin next month and be finalized in February, with a possible presentation of findings soon after.
The study will highlight station locations and cost assessments, ridership estimates, and the impact to Hamilton community.
“It’s a very important piece as we continue our pursuit on this very important endeavor,” Ryan said. “This is going to show us what we need to see. Some of the numbers could be really high in areas or be really low, but either way we need to see this data so council can make some reasonable decisions coming up here very soon.”
Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dan Bates, who’s co-organizing with Ryan the trip to Columbus, said Amtrak stopping in Hamilton “has huge potential in the city’s future.”
“I’ve heard some legislators say that Amtrak is not self-sufficient, but neither are bridges and roads and we need those, too. Without those, where would our commerce be?” Bates said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Amtrak is definitely going to be expanding and adding new lines in Ohio, and why wouldn’t we try our best shot at being a stop?”
Amtrak’s planned stop in Oxford will be at the $28.5 million Chestnut Street Multimodal Station being constructed. The multimodal station is planned to be operational by late 2025 for, among other things, the Butler County RTA and regional buses, bike storage, and intermodal transfer bays. Sometime in 2026, the platform could see Amtrak’s Cardinal line to be up and running.
Because passenger rail has not been in Hamilton for years, Bates believes people aren’t attuned to the value one or two Amtrak passenger rail stops could have for the city, as well as the region.
“If we got both lines, that would be connecting Hamilton to Cleveland and Hamilton to Chicago, and I think that would produce some amazing opportunities, both for commerce and for tourism,” he said. “If you look at Spooky Nook and kids and parents traveling with sports equipment, they can take all that on the train so much easier than if they would fly, and not have to drive and worry about all of that.”
This could also lead to a downtown loop connecting the Amtrak station, or stations, taking people to Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill, the hotels, and the shops and restaurants around the urban core.
“That’s very long-term thinking, but I think we have to look at the future and look at how not only are people going to get in from out of the area, but how people get around in our own community as well.”
Ohio Rep. Sara Carruthers, who’s leaving office at the end of the year, is organizing the meeting in Columbus on Nov. 20, the first day lawmakers are back in session after the general election. She’s in invited lawmakers around the region, not just those representing Butler County, to attend this meeting because Amtrak in Hamilton “is good business” and “it’s important to get the word out now.”
“It needs to be talked about up there (in Columbus), and it really hasn’t been,” Carruthers said, adding that this discussion next month can show her fellow lawmakers the value of it, “because if they get that, and they see the business value of it, then they are more likely to carry this through during the next General Assembly.”
Ryan said Carruthers, who represents Hamilton and Oxford, along with other communities, in Columbus, has been “going to bat for us.”
“It’s going to be a very fun day, an important day,” he said. “Our stakeholders here, our business owners are excited about this (meeting) as it can really show the Statehouse we really are sincere and we really want this to happen. This is really going to impact Hamilton’s future and we’ll definitely want to get those folks up there (to Columbus) and get their voices heard.”
The Journal-News is a media partner of WCPO.com.
Watch Live:
