Ohio's $564 million 3-C passenger rail plan not on America 2050's list of top 50 city pairings

3-C passenger rail train center of Ohio HUB Plan
(Graphic/ODOT/ORDC)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The news from a report released by America 2050' on where high-speed rail (HSR) will work best will not sit well with Ohio rail bosses and boosters, who are cheer leading spending a half billion dollars on a so-called quick start train linking Cincinnati to Columbus to Cleveland, that will only average 39 mph if and when trains sets can be found or manufactured and that did not make the group's list of top 50 city pairings.

The America 2050 report, co-authored by Yoav Hagler and Petra Todorovich, seeks to define the corridors in America that are most appropriate for HSR Service, which the authors called critical to the long-term success of America’s HSR program.

They say their report offers one mechanism for assessing which potential HSR corridors will have the greatest ridership demand based on population size, economic activity, transit connections, existing travel markets and urban spatial form and density.

Ohio 3-C passenger train route not listed, labeled a Phase 3 project

The duo of authors evaluated 27,000 city pairs in the nation to create an index of city pairs with the greatest demand for high-speed rail service.

Their report provides a list of the top 50 city pairs, which are primarily concentrated in the Northeast, California, and the Midwest, and provides recommendations for phasing corridor development in the nation’s megaregions.

Even though Ohio rail officials have already placed their bets on a distressed Colorado rail car company buyout specialists, who hope to move it east to a nearby suburb of Columbus, need over $15 million in state and federal funding to build a new facility on brownfield land before their grand plan to take advantage of the zeal for HSR can be hatched, Hagler and Todorovich rank it as worthy only for Phase 3 projects -- which they conclude work best when other projects that offer multiple connections between major metropolitan centered in the Northeast, California and Great Lakes megaregions are completed. For Ohioans who think they will hop on a Euro-style train any time soon, this and other reports on who should merit some of President Obama's $8 billion in HSR funding should come as no surprise, despite the media's practice to not question or challenge government talkers who wax long on benefits but are pretty mute on system details like real costs, real time for roll out and real ridership numbers.

Top 50 City Pairs: Rank City Pair Score

1. New York-Washington 100.00
2. Philadelphia-Washington 98.24
3. Boston-New York 97.22
4. Baltimore-New York 96.83
5. Los Angeles-San Francisco 96.43
6. Boston-Philadelphia 96.05
7. Los Angeles-San Diego 94.92
8. Los Angeles-San Jose 94.19
9. Boston-Washington 92.79
10. Dallas-Houston 91.37
11. Chicago-Detroit 91.09
12. Baltimore-Boston 90.39
13. Chicago-Columbus 89.42
14. Chicago-Saint Louis 89.25
15. Los Angeles-Phoenix 89.03
16. Chicago-Cleveland 88.71
17. Charlotte-Washington 88.39
18. San Diego-San Francisco 88.32
19. Columbus-Washington 88.21
20. Cleveland-Washington 88.13
21. New York-Pittsburgh 88.03
22. Phoenix-San Diego 87.97
23. Las Vegas-Los Angeles 87.79
24. Detroit-New York 87.47
25. Chicago-Minneapolis 87.33
26. Detroit-Washington 87.27
27. Cleveland-New York 87.25
28. Philadelphia-Pittsburgh 87.23
29. Portland-Seattle 87.19
30. Pittsburgh-Washington 86.69
31. Los Angeles-Sacramento 86.58
32. New York-Providence 86.58
33. Raleigh-Washington 86.36
34. Detroit-Philadelphia 86.30
35. Chicago-Louisville 86.25
36. Hartford-Philadelphia 86.20
37. San Diego-San Jose 86.14
38. Hartford-Washington 86.13
39. Chicago-Cincinnati 86.02
40. Cleveland-Philadelphia 85.99
41. Charlotte-Philadelphia 85.60
42. Philadelphia-Raleigh 85.58
43. Buffalo-New York 85.58
44. New York-Virginia Beach 85.52
45. Austin-Dallas 85.47
46. Manchester-New York 85.41
47. Philadelphia-Providence 85.36
48. Bridgeport-Philadelphia 85.31
49. Columbus-Philadelphia 85.24
50. New York-Rochester 85.11

America 2050 bills itself as a national initiative to develop a framework for America’s future growth and development in face of rapid population growth, demographic change and infrastructure needs in the 21st century. It's major focus is on the emergence of megaregions – large networks of metropolitan areas, where most of the projected population growth by mid-century will take place – and how to organize governance, infrastructure investments and land use planning at this new urban scale.

The group received help from supporting groups including the Rockefeller Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the William Penn Foundation and the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

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