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The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) continue to pursue a “3C Quick Start” passenger rail system between Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

To obtain feedback from the public on a preferred route and station locations, the agencies will conduct a workshop tomorrow in Columbus. Other public meetings will be held the week of Sept. 15 in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

ODOT and ORDC plan to seek American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for the 3C Quick Start system, which initially would operate at conventional passenger train speeds of 79 mph by 2011 and connect with the Chicago hub network. The agencies’ long-term goal is to develop the 3C Corridor high-speed rail (HSR) system between the four Ohio cities. The 3C Corridor is a federally designated HSR corridor.

ODOT and ORDC are working with Amtrak and freight railroads to complete updated studies on routing and ridership for the 3C Quick Start system. Based on early projections and travel time analyses, trips from downtown Cleveland to downtown Columbus and from downtown Cincinnati to downtown Columbus are expected to take about three hours.

ODOT and ORDC must submit an ARRA funding application to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) by Oct. 2. The agencies submitted a pre-application to the FRA on July 10.