Will high-speed trains zip by Mahoning Valley?

There’s a lot of talks these days in Columbus and Washington about trains, but the Mahoning Valley isn’t part of the conversation in the governor’s office or the White House. Why? That’s what William DeCicco, executive director of the CASTLO Community Improvement Corporation, and others want to find out.

And, they aren’t going to be impressed with explanations that attempt to justify the exclusion of Youngstown and Warren.

“I have no problem with eventually constructing a high speed rail link [from Cleveland] to Columbus and Cincinnati ... but only after a northern Ohio route is built. Let the battle begin.” So wrote DeCicco in a widely circulated e-mail to politicians, development specialists and community leaders. “It is time to start uniting our brother and sister development organizations in Toledo, Sandusky, Lorain, Elyria, Cleveland and Akron along with those of us in the Mahoning Valley to make a high speed rail route through our region a reality.”

DeCicco and others are reacting to Gov. Ted Strickland’s discussion in his State of the State address Jan. 28 about the creation of passenger rail service in the 3C Corridor — Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati.

“Our goal is to link Ohio’s three largest cities by passenger rail service for the first time in 40 years,” the governor said. “This will be the first step toward a rail system that links neighborhoods within a city, and cities within our state.”

But the head of CASTLO is justified in his skepticism of anything developing after the CCC link is completed and in operation.

Federal stimulus money

If that announcement wasn’t enough to trigger a declaration of war, the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package passed by the Democratic Congress and signed into law by Democratic President Barack Obama contains $8 billion for the development of high-speed passenger rail service. Although specific routes for the service have not been mapped out, there is a report in Politico, a political news web site, that much of the $8 billion was added in the final bargaining on the bill on Capitol with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. It is not hard to imagine that Emanuel’s being from Chicago could result in the development of a high-speed rail connection from the Windy City to Washington, D.C., and the East Coast.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, D-Sandusky, a member of the powerful House appropriations committee and its transportation subcommittee, is already making a pitch for some of the stimulus money to be used to develop high-speed passenger rail service connecting Chicago, Toledo, Sandusky, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

The Mahoning Valley deserves to be a stop on that route.

Indeed, this region has been without passenger rail service since 2005, when Amtrak shut down its Three Rivers line that ran between Chicago and New York City.

Akron and Fostoria also lost service.

On the other hand, Sandusky is served by two Amtrak trains, the Capitol Limited, which links Washington to Chicago, and the Lake Shore Limited, linking Chicago to Boston and New York.

Congressman Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, also serves on the Appropriations Committee, and is viewed as one of the rising stars in the House. We have every confidence that Ryan will be heard when plans are being developed for spending the $8 billion.

On the other hand, Gov. Strickland’s proposal for the 3C rail corridor — the trains would not be high-speed — must be viewed as another threat to the development of the Mahoning Valley. After all, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati have benefited substantially — more than is justified — from taxpayer dollars flowing out of state coffers.

That has given the Three Cs an advantage over regions like ours.

We deserve to be heard.