You know historically there was a Cleveland-Lorain train or Electric street car line, that operated until the 60s I think (or at least not that long ago). I returning that same service would be difficult due to the removed infrastructure. The old route in Bay Village and Avon Lake have been turned into a residential boulevard and bike trails. I think the route had a huge impact on Bay Village, Sheffield, and Avon Lake development, because they used to be summer cottage communities for people who lived and worked in Lorain and Cleveland. There is an old neighborhood known as the 45s, because it was located around stop 45 on the tranist line. You can still see the historic depot and adjoing inn in Avon Lake. The old train garage is a part of the Avon Lake Post Office, and the Saddle Inn is now a vaccant movie theater. 

 

Anyway, I do think this transit line would pump more investment and life along the lake and older parts for all these communities, rather than along I-90. Rocky River may not want more trains through their town, but I should think they would want more residents and retail visitors. If something new and exciting doesn't happen in Rocky River soon, its neighborhood and schools will probably have the same fate of Fairview. And not that Fairview is bad, but it has declined a little bit and something similar could always happen in Rocky River. Pushing the potential economic impact for new development along these transit stations is probably going to be critical in getting a local consensus at the municipal level.

yep, thats what electric avenue is named for in avon lake. we used to say we were going to "rock on down" there -- hehe!

 

If Lakewood's mayor supports the concept, why would Kucinich be so against it?

 

well good news is that it sounds like he is tepidly ok with it now. but before he was dead against it. the story is he had negotiated for less train runs through the westside burbs with the railroad companies and was sticking to his nimby guns....even tho the runs had long dropped off so low on the route that even with commuter rail added it still would have been less than what he originally negotiated for. sez it all about our dennis no?

 

 

That was the Lake Shore Electric Railway, which stopped operating in 1938. I encourage those of interested in this interurban, the last one of many such interurban lines to serve Greater Cleveland, to read "The Lake Shore Electric Railway Story" by Herbert H. Harwood Jr and Robert S. Korach, published by Indiana University Press in 2000. Lots of great stories, photos, maps and more.

 

Here is one of my favorite photos from the book, with the shot looking east in 1936 in downtown Rocky River, toward the Westlake Hotel (now the pink condo building) and the old Detroit Road bridge (now the site of the "bridge building"). This was where the LSE left city streets in Cleveland and Lakewood and headed out across open country on its right of way, to Lorain, Sandusky, Fremont, Toledo and Detroit (with branch lines to other cities)....

 

 

04/22/2006

Commuter rail line is getting renewed push

ALEX M. PARKER , Morning Journal Writer

 

ELYRIA -- A commuter rail line from Lorain to Cleveland -- the long-stalled dream of Lorain-area officials -- is getting new life, with support from a statewide group hoping to link Ohio through rail lines.

 

''Traffic is going to increase on our highways, due to increased population, due to increased freight needs, and it is time for us to be looking at alternatives to highway travel, such as a rail line and commuter rails,'' said Commissioner Betty Blair, chairwoman of the Lorain County Community Alliance, which has long been pushing for a rail line.

 

........

 

http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16518614&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46371&rfi=6

 

All aboard! Rail line from Cleveland to Lorain urged

Friday, April 21, 2006

Carl Matzelle

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

A new passenger rail line is proposed between Lorain and Cleveland as a way to limit pollution, fight high gasoline prices and link poor city residents to jobs in growing areas.

 

The proposed West Shore Greenway would include stops in Sheffield Lake, Avon, Westlake, Rocky River and Lakewood, on the way to the West Boulevard Regional Transit Authority station.

 

At West Boulevard, riders could transfer to buses and trains headed to Tower City Center, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, North Coast Harbor and other destinations.

 

 

...........

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/lorain/1145608863106950.xml&coll=2

Very interesting.  I always wondered what Parma looked like...I really appreciate the tour of this cooridor.  It looks sort of transitional between "traditional" retail right on the street/sidewalk, and the more 'parking lot/strip center" retail.

 

Looks like a good place to run a transit line. 

Does anyone think Steelyard Commons had any influence on awarding this corridor study. I feel like there are some stakeholders in Steelyard Commons that maybe would like to see this transit corridor completed.

"Opponents fear increased rail traffic and another cause of urban flight."

 

Huh!!??  Excuse me, I'm choking on the bullshit... The disinformation spin-miesters are in their war rooms ready to mount a full assault on this worthwhile project.  Obviously, it's already started.

 

The information police (us) need to stick to the key elements to shoot them down:

 

- it's cheap ($13M get's it up and running w/ the $2M operating expense.

- it's effective; fast, green, and the potential to concentrate growth around station.

- serves the most people -- it cuts a straight line connecting: a) the densest part of the county (Lakewood central/East), with the corridor (I-90 west) which is actually growing.

well thats one way to build support -- lol!

 

Thanks for the tour, KJP! Your photos make it clear that this is a corridor aching for better transit.

I love the intersection of W. 25th and Clark. It's one of the few remaining city intersections where all four corners are occupied with commercial buildings at the sidewalk. As this project progressses, we'll need to keep an eye on NOACA and ODOT to make sure they don't propose demolishing such structures to make way for stations, as was done at E. 55th and Euclid for the ECP. There are always alternatives to demo.

I had the privilege this morning of getting to see KJP do an excellent presentation on the proposed Lorain-Cleveland Commuter Rail Corridor at the Annual Lorain County Transportation Day.  It shows not only that such a commuter route is possible, but can be started at relatively low cost as a demonstration project.

 

(KJP.... it would be great to somehow create a link to that power-point presentation, if possible.)

 

The reaction to the presentation was very positive and I believe this will go a long way toward getting this plan rolling. There's still much to be done.... getting public support along the route, getting the Norfolk-Southern Railroad to the planning table, pushing the plan through the process it takes to go after funding.  But make no mistake, this is a project well worth pursuing.  The population density is there and so is the infrastructure base to build it and make it grow. 

Thanks Noozer. I saved the PowerPoint presentation as a PDF, and have saved it at the following location (Warning to dial-up users, this is a 3MB download!) ....

 

http://members.cox.net/neotrans2/WestShoreGreenway.pdf

 

NOTE TO MEDIA AND OTHERS:  DO NOT QUOTE ME FROM THIS REPORT OR OTHERWISE USE MY NAME IN ARTICLES. HOWEVER, YOU MAY QUOTE ALONG THE LINES OF "...according to a NEOtrans report. NEOtrans is the consulting arm of the nonprofit All Aboard Ohio." CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.

^ Good points, noozer, but you forgot one other key element: getting RTA on board, be it through arm twisting or otherwise.

I am advocating this service with the assumption that RTA would not be asked for any financial contribution. I am doing so because I anticipate RTA would never offer any -- other than perhaps access to their West Blvd station and maybe a fare-free transfer to/from it.

Extremely good presentation KJP--Very easy to read and quite persuasive.  Best of luck!

Thanks. It was the first PowerPoint presentation I've ever attempted. I wasn't even sure I had the software on my computer!

:clap:

^ well, KJP, everyone certainly appreciates your hard work.  But that's a terrible indictment of our transit agency, the biggest and baddest in the state.  Quality mass transit could mean so much to rebuilding our metro area, but we've got a bunch of yeahoos running it.  It's a crime.    :whip:

good powerpoint kjp. you might want to label some of the photos? overall it sure makes the case.

 

this has to happen.

Excellent presentation! :clap:

I guess I am warming up to the idea of a Cleveland-Lorain commuter rail line. This commuter rail line as well as others like this would probably be especially necessary to complement and ensure the feasiblity the Ohio Hub intercity rail plan which I am strongly in favor of.

 

Where exactly is Ford Yard in Avon along Norfolk Southern. Why wasn't the existing platform and depot at Rt.83 considered? is it because of the proximity of the intersection of rt. 83 or heavy automobile traffic along rt. 83?

I can tell you that commuter rail lines are not only potentially beneficial to the Ohio Hub, their development and implementation is being encouraged in the ORDC plan.  Part of the planning process required by the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) is to take into account the impact of both potential commuter rail service as well as existing light rail, local mass transit and feeder bus lines.

I think the Avon/SR83 area would make a terrific station site. But I believe the Avon depot is used by someone else. I'm not aware of a trackside platform, however....

 

The depot is currently being used as a commercial space that has several mom and pop tenants. Some kind of art gallery, a restaurant, and a little sporting goods shop. It isn't really a very impressive structure, but next week when I home I will take pictures of it. The building is located on the north side of the tracks and has a small covered platform adjacent to the tracks. Rt.83 crosses the tracks right up against the depot, so the logistics or cost of creating a bridge or tunnel might also complicate it returning to a rail station.

I think Norfolk Southern is single-track at that location. If so, a pedestrian crossing isn't needed. But the station platform would have to be set back from the road a bit so that when a train stops there, an "island" circuit for the crossing devices will cause the gates to rise when a train stops and doesn't cross the island circuit. When the train starts moving again, it will cross the island circuit and cause the gates to lower again.

While I much prefer rail to bus, I have difficulty justifying the cost of a rail line in the street when it would not provide much of an upgrade in service over a bus.  Am I overlooking anything? 

 

Given the stranglehold that oil is putting on major bus transit operations like RTA's nationwide, it's no wonder that many cities are scrambling to expand their rail networks.  A single railcar can carry between 2 and 2.5 as many people as a standard bus with essentially the same labor cost:  one operator.  Some cities have rapid transit lines where one-operator, one-conductor trains carry many hundreds of passengers (DC, Atlanta).  While buses play a major role in those cities, the rail systems aren't as directly affected by increasing petrol costs.

 

From RTA's website:

Expenditures – where the money goes

 

 

 

69.0 percent, personnel services

10.9 percent, fuel/utilities

08.2 percent, transfers

04.5 percent, materials and supplies

02.5 percent, liabilities and damages

01.5 percent, purchased transportation

00.6percent, other expenses

 

A related statistic is that in 2004, RTA rail ridership productivity was far higher than for bus:  54.4 rail passenger boardings/veh. hour versus 26.3 bus passenger boardings/veh. hour.  Total Veh. Hrs. in 2004:  rail 143,126  bus 1.706 million.  If more of those boardings could be shifted to rail, RTA could theoretically carry more people for less cost.  That's the principal reason many German cities replace bus lines with rail lines once the line has reached a certain volume.  I'd say that volume has existed for some time on a number of RTA's top-ten highest ridership bus routes.

 

Plus we all know someone who would never be caught dead on a transit bus, but they'd ride a railcar.  Ride quality, average speed and image have a lot to do with that.

 

Other Fun Facts on why transit needs to grow:

http://www.apta.com/media/facts.cfm

BTW, Toronto's street-running railcars don't provide much of a difference over their buses.  They get stuck in traffic like anything else.  However, they are pretty much emission-free, meaning they contribute no harmful gases to the environment.  Cleveland is a non-attainment area and as of now, there are no solutions in sight.  More rides taken by rail v. bus would do more to clean up the air. 

And with the major hit most transit systems are taking for diesel fuel for their buses, electric light rail and trolleys are looking better and better.

BTW, The old cleveland street cars were sold to Toronto, info from cleveland memories book

from the free times. i think they overstated westside opposition and understated kucinich's, but what the hey.

 

congrats kjp!  :clap:

 

oh, and i really liked the lorain mayor's parting remark at the very end  :wink:

 

link:

http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3437&POSTNUKESID=850c57b1fce054a0cd14dbf6b391edc5

 

 

 

Train In Vain: While Communities Squabble, Lorain Waits For Commuter Cars That Might Never Come

 

By Dan Harkins

 

 

At the turn of the new century, these 26 acres of riverfront real estate in downtown Lorain were a tangle of old railroad ties, trash and weeds, a wasteland of the city's broken dreams. But add nearly $7 million in state and federal transportation money and what you get is the Black River Landing and Transportation Center, dolled up with its very own 5,000-square-foot train station. Not that there's been much transporting going on. Not a single train has passed through here since the dust cleared, nor does it look like any are on the way.

 

 

WESTERN OUTPOST Black River Landing and Transportation Center has everything but trains.

 

 

"We built this station, and now it's a festival grounds," says Stan Cinniger, this ward's councilman when the center was built and a retired conductor for Lake Terminal Railroad. "It's sad, really, because for Lorain and a lot of other North Coast cities to the west to develop, we need that commuter rail. It's something we need right now."

 

Some are listening. Ken Prendergast, an area journalist and director of NEOtrans, has studied plans for the West Shore Greenway, a route proposed from Cleveland to just beyond Lorain with stops in six 'burbs, and believes the best way to sell it to skeptics would be on a one-year, $13-million test run. This, he says, would re-ignite the issue in conjunction with another that's gaining steam — the Ohio Rail Development Commission's plan to connect all major Ohio cities for high-speed passenger and freight service to points beyond.

 

It is the route that holds the most promise. The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency chose it four years back as the one regional line with the best opportunity for ridership. But where the state plan has broad bipartisan support and is likely to receive funding for environmental and engineering studies, the local one is still mired in obscurity and opposition.

 

Lorain officials first must curry favor with obstinate mayors from a few western suburbs whose resistance to any increase in train traffic is strong (even though the line would entail just a few commuter cars during the morning and evening rushes. Then they would need to seek even more public money, as well as support from levy-averse voters, to pay a sticker price estimated to be upwards of $150 million for a permanent line with stations along the way. And that doesn't even include the yearly operating costs.

 

"Everyone says, 'Let's get some federal money to do this,' and I'll tell you that getting money to do this is going to be tough," says Joe Calabrese, general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. "Currently, there's 64 federal projects awaiting money and they approve maybe three or four a year."

 

The two criteria the feds use to triage a project, Calabrese says, are how they would ease traffic congestion and how the region's population is expected to rise. "And because traffic congestion is not an issue and the fact that population growth is projected to be stable and not grow in the next 20 years, it may be a project that can't meet the federal screening process," he says.

 

Maybe chances would be better if Ohio politicians had public transportation as a priority. According to a 2004 ODOT study, states similar in size and demographics surpass Ohio in terms of money from the state budget going to trains and buses: Pennsylvania, population 12.4 million, devotes $63.29 per person; Illinois, population 12.7 million, spends $61.25; Michigan, population 10.1 million, $20.73. Yet with a population of 11.5 million, Ohio doles out just $1.58.

 

Calabrese says he'd love to see it work, what with RTA's diesel prices going from $4 million in 2002 to $14 million this year. He recently offered Lorain County leaders any help his organization could provide in their quixotic quest. But, he adds, "Unless the current systems can maintain their current infrastructure, it's unrealistic to think we can be building any new infrastructure."

 

LORAIN IS TIRED of being at the back of the line. When Ford Motor Co. pulled out of its long-held Lorain facility at the end of last year, it was just the latest in a series of manufacturing defections that has turned many of the city's neighborhoods into blighted shadows of their former selves.

 

Mayor Craig Foltin, a Republican working with an all-Democratic council, has helped to corral support to bring new riverfront housing, dreams of a multi-million-dollar Indian casino resort and an undertone of vibrancy to the downtown area.

 

"We're happy with what we've done, but getting commuter rail here would be a great economic driver for the whole region, not just Lorain and Cleveland but all points in between. Unfortunately, [some western suburbs] worry that economic development will come to Lorain instead of to them, that we'd take growth away," says Foltin, a candidate for the 13th Congressional District. "But we have to start thinking regionally here. You can't be running things just as individual cities."

 

At-Large Lorain Councilman Tony Krasienko is tired of fighting the tide: "Northern Ohio just isn't ready or willing to submit to a regional idea and think of what's best for the area instead of what's best for their own little fiefdoms. Everybody is saying that we need alternatives to combat these fuel prices. Well, mass transit is the best option for reducing our consumption of fuels."

 

Congressman Dennis Kucinich has historically sided with the western suburbs on this issue. When CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads were considering a merger in the late '90s, threatening to increase train traffic through those 'burbs to as many as 45 trains a day, Kucinich brokered a deal that would cap the number to an average of 14. "Now," brags Kucinich spokesman Doug Gordon, "those communities are seeing less than three [a day]."

 

As long as communities like Bay Village and Rocky River remain averse, Gordon says Kucinich won't do a thing. "If this is what all the communities want, then the congressman will support it, but it doesn't appear all the communities that would be affected have come together," he says.

 

But Krasienko and others don't think a few sparsely populated communities should be able to hold bigger cities and their train-stations-in-waiting hostage. And they don't think Kucinich should preach about oil independency and conservation unless he backs it up.

 

"If he's going to talk the talk, he should walk the walk," Krasienko says. "Here's a big opportunity right here for us to do our small part."

 

BAY VILLAGE MAYOR Deborah Sutherland wants to just stick with the Kucinich formula. Period. Allow commuter rail to set up shop, she says, and you might see the railroads giving the formula the finger. Besides, she doesn't see how the price tag is justified.

 

"When I asked, 'Where's the funding coming from?' and they said, 'The communities are going to fund it,' I just said, 'No, we're not.' You might as well buy everybody who'd use this thing a Cadillac and let them drive that. It'd probably be cheaper."

 

But NEOtrans' Prendergast says a cleaner environment, greater oil independence and development opportunities around proposed stations — as well as on 60 acres of land now devoted to parking spaces downtown — would earn untold dollars for future generations. He believes a majority of residents can be made to see the wisdom of this.

 

"Ultimately, what causes change are grassroots efforts that drive politicians to action," he says. According to a survey by the Ohio State University, eight in 10 citizens want the state to further develop passenger rail service. David Beach, director of EcoCity Cleveland, says expensive oil and global warming are slowly changing people's priorities.

 

"We should be doing everything possible to develop transportation alternatives," he says. "Our current dependence on automobiles is just not sustainable."

 

Some headway is being made. Longtime Lorain County Commissioner Betty Blair, an active proponent of the Lorain-Cleveland route, has been stumping for its creation for years from her perch on the board of NOACA. Now, she and other supporters are seeking foundation money to hire a point person whose job it would be to woo the western suburbs aboard.

 

Stu Nicholson, spokesman for the Ohio Rail Development Commission plan, says it's time: "We're the greatest industrial nation in the world with a third-world rail service."

 

But that's just one way of looking at it. Every city is looking out for its own. There's even some talk that many people from the 'burbs moved there to get away from urban problems like crime and grime. Why would they want to open up a vein like this?

 

Mayor Foltin's heard hushed talk like this for years. He knows it's what stands in the way of so many dreams: "We have no problem with people from Rocky River or Bay or Lakewood coming here. We don't think they'd downgrade our city in the least."

 

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, but I'd prefer not to be quoted or referred to in any articles about this issue. I came up with a report to satisfy my own curiosity and to motivate others to take the lead (and thus, for them to be quoted).

 

I will gladly talk off the record with the media on this so they can get their facts straight, rather than rely on people like Calabrese or Sutherland who have their reactions, not research, ready to go.

well they certainly used the quotes just like they were talking to you didn't they?  how deceitful. makes you wonder how often that happens. sheesh, what a shame.

 

not to mention i thought lazy journalism was a manhattan exclusive.

 

I'm toning down my reactions to this and other articles, as I would rather move forward than look back.

KJP.... I hope you say something to this twit.  I would hesitate to call him a journalist, because what he did is certainly not journalism.  I'm betting he plagarized comments from the article that ran in the Elyrica newspaper a few weeks ago.

^yeah, and/or what he read on this website too. ugh, this is a shame. disaster really for such an important plan that needs public advocacy, push and support.

 

i am disgusted that that writer never considered the the repercussions and outcome of his actions. guess what guy, you may have killed your own story. geesh, dont the weeklies have any editorial oversight? i guess thats why they are free, you get what you paid for.

 

my solution is just to reiterate that the people of ne ohio need to get together and form a transit advocacy and watchdog organization for this stuff (like straphangers in nyc, boston transit watch, etc.). that would be much much more powerful than piecemeal individual grassroots advocacy.

 

 

This is a disaster for those of us who want to see the Lorain-Cleveland Project come to fruition. Thanks to the idiotic action of some "twit", as Noozer calls him, we are now dead in the water.

 

MRNYC might have an answer to this: Foram a local transit advocacy group. This is what happened in St. Louis, where Citizens For Modern transit has become instrumental in getting the Metrolink line built and expanded. I think this is an idea that should be pursued.

 

Meantime, I hope KJP isn't in too much hot water over this!

I don't think we're dead in the water. There is a meeting coming up where a task force to pursue Lorain-Cleveland regional rail hopefully will be formed.

 

If I do attend, I will be the one wearing a trench coat and sunglasses.  :wink2:

Agreed.  This project is hardly dead in the water.  There are some pretty solid political forces in Lorain County backing this and from Cong. Brown's office as well.  KJP might have to fly lower than he normally would under the radar from here on out.

 

A strong citizen advocacy group would be a good move, along with some coalition building with other organizations that would favor commuter rail.

Boy, that Deborah Sutherland of Bay Village sure sounds like a right-wing jughead.  If I hear another reincarnation of the tired old "... it'd be cheaper to buy everyone (fill in the blank_____, Cadillacs, Mercedes, limos, etc.) I think I'll puke.  I wish these blind anti-transit types would get new material.   :shoot: :shoot: :shoot:

"Everyone says, 'Let's get some federal money to do this,' and I'll tell you that getting money to do this is going to be tough," says Joe Calabrese, general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

 

Interestingly enough, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which is even more transit-averse than NOACA, received $100 million of federal money to study and build a commuter transit line between Ann Arbor and Detroit.  First-term Sen. Debbie Stabenow secured the funding.  Are we to believe northeast Ohio doesn't have Congressional representation at least as powerful and influential as Stabenow?

Especially since Northeast Ohio is a donor region when it come to federal transportation funding (ie: gas taxes). We pay more than we get back. So maybe we need to elect Congresspeople and Senators who will do their job? And, just maybe, some of local transportation leaders aren't asking our federal legislators for the money? You don't get it if you don't ask for it. Those two factors are key in this region's generosity with transportation funding, which we give to other parts of the nation so that they can kick our butt economically.

 

If we're so content to ask so little of our region, then how can we complain when that's exactly what we get in return? Problem is, not enough people are complaining -- and certainly not the right ones.

...and our supposed "leadership" at RTA is only too content with the status quo.  Calabrese should be the biggest transit advocate in the region.  Instead, he rolls over like a half-dead dog.  Certainly if Joe called Steve LaTourette on the phone, the Congressman would be more than happy to go to bat for RTA.

 

 

No question. BTW, there's no such thing as the status quo. Nothing ever stays the same.

"Everyone says, 'Let's get some federal money to do this,' and I'll tell you that getting money to do this is going to be tough," says Joe Calabrese, general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

 

Interestingly enough, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which is even more transit-averse than NOACA, received $100 million of federal money to study and build a commuter transit line between Ann Arbor and Detroit.  First-term Sen. Debbie Stabenow secured the funding.  Are we to believe northeast Ohio doesn't have Congressional representation at least as powerful and influential as Stabenow?

 

I lived in SE Michigan for a year, and I remember this coming out. It's a really neat idea, and I'd be interested to see what it does economically. Ann Arbor is like a little island in the middle of depressed Detroit. I wonder if it could stimulate a bit of good growth. I think with the cost of real estate in Ann Arbor as high as it is, I think it would be great for lower income people -- plus the college kids who go to UMich but never go to the city.

I hope that we can find a way to get this done. The Cleveland area needs alot more transit options and this should only be the begining. After viewing that power point, I dont understand how any one could be against it, but then again I was born and raised in the Cleveland area, so I have come to expect delays like this. Those who are for it just keep fighting for this and we will see it one day.

Ann Arbor is like a little island in the middle of depressed Detroit. I wonder if it could stimulate a bit of good growth. I think with the cost of real estate in Ann Arbor as high as it is, I think it would be great for lower income people -- plus the college kids who go to UMich but never go to the city.

 

Not entirely correct.  Ann Arbor's wealthy, true, but many of the kids who go to UM are in the northern burbs, equally, if not even more wealthy.  Trains can follow the pre-established Amtrak route directly to campus as well as into downtown Detroit... This Michigan example shows that, despite a history of being backwards transit-wise, it helps having a single, large-city power base, and a state that CAN pull together for the good ... from time to time.

 

Those elements seem absent in NEO/Ohio where different parts of the state are constantly at war.  We need to push these gubernatorial/U.S. Senate candidates in this election season... of course, it would be an uphill climb if both a) your transit chief and b) most suburbs in the commuter rail path are either indifferent or hostile to (respectively) the rail proposal.

A number of you have seen the PowerPoint presentation. This is a much shorter version. Some of you may have seen this before, too, but some additions have been made. More changes may be made soon, including a version showing different service options (ie: length of route, through service to downtown, etc)

 

http://members.cox.net/neotrans2/WestShoreGreenwayReport1.pdf

It apprears you have the rail line angling toward the lakeshore route (toward North Coast) at the West Blvd Rapid stop/terminal.  Is this an alteration?  It would seem to negate the 'cross platform' nature of the Rapid transfer if it is... Also, I like the TOD mixed retail/residential project at West Blvd.  The question is, when can we approach Silent Frank, er, I mean Mayor Jackson, to get Cleveland to buy in to such an obviously beneficial project?  I mean, it makes tons more sense to build such a tight, TOD project bringing housing/retail/jobs to an empty (of housing/retail) area as opposed to the (project Jackson has thrown his weight behind), a ridiculous, Big Box Target Store which will wipe out homes of 100 city residents -- in a shrinking city, no less -- a few miles southwest at W.117 St & I-90.

I'd like to see at least the rush-hour runs go into downtown, and for this kind of train equipment, that would mean building a track connection to reach the NS mainline to North Coast Harbor. Off-peak trips could still do the cross-platform transfer at West Boulevard, and perhaps a station could be built on the proposed track connection I just mentioned (still providing a link to Tower City).

 

There's a half-dozen ways this demo (or permanent) service could be offered. A lot of it will depend on Norfolk Southern and what they might be willing to accommodate on their tracks. They may not want any commuter trains on their busy line from West Blvd to North Coast Harbor. Or perhaps a siding as part of the new track connection might be enough to assuage them.

 

But until there's a significant effort underway, backed with some meaningful dollars, I wouldn't expect NS to pay any attention to this. We're still real early into this process.

I agree.  Given that this 3 mi stretch into N. Coast is the throat of busy thru freight service, getting NS to bend on allowing commuter trains right now is a reach -- they'd really stick it to RTA (or whoever would run the service) in insurance payments.  A 'first-things-first' approach is best.  Let's get the W. Blvd to Lorain service up and running, and let's see people, towns, flock to this service and THEN dream on for direct service into downtown/N. Coast.