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Husted: Rail supporters should ask tough questions

Kettering rep. is worried state can’t afford subsidies.

Republican candidate for Ohio Secretary of State, Ohio Senate Majority Leader Jon Husted, R-Kettering, spoke at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Dayton on Monday, April 12, at Sinclair Community College’s Ponitz Center.

Chris Stewart/Dayton Daily News Staff Photogra Republican candidate for Ohio Secretary of State, Ohio Senate Majority Leader Jon Husted, R-Kettering, spoke at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Dayton on Monday, April 12, at Sinclair Community College’s Ponitz Center.

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By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer Updated 1:32 AM Tuesday, April 13, 2010

DAYTON — State Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, said Monday, April 12, that supporters of a passenger rail system in Ohio should be asking state transportation officials the same tough questions he’s been asking about the proposed $400 million rail project.

“You have to force the people who want to do this to prove that future generations of Ohioans won’t be saddled with something we can’t afford and don’t use,” Husted told a luncheon meeting of the Dayton Rotary Club at Sinclair Community College.

Husted said the state can’t afford the estimated $17 million in annual subsidies for the train service at a time when it’s facing an $8 billion budget shortfall. And if the service is scrapped in less than 20 years, he said Ohio would “be on the hook” to pay back the project’s $400 million in federal stimulus funds on a pro-rated basis.

Husted had originally planned to talk about his campaign for Ohio Secretary of State but addressed passenger rail instead after facing criticism from rail supporters who say he should be backing a project that promises to bring millions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs to his home district.

Three Republican votes on the state’s seven-member controlling board could block the plan and return the federal stimulus money for another state to use. Husted does not sit on that board.

The proposed 3-C Corridor would operate four trains daily between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati as early as 2012. Stops on the 255-mile route would include downtown Dayton, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Riverside and Springfield. Riverside officials estimate the stop there will draw $180 million in real estate and create 6,000 new jobs.

As the leader of the Senate Republican majority, Husted has been an outspoken critic of the rail plan, which has the backing of Democratic legislators and Gov. Ted Strickland. Husted insists his reasons are not political.

“I would love to have a rail system in Ohio that worked,” he said, but added that the slow speeds and infrequent service along the proposed route won’t attract commuters or even sports fans planning day trips to Cincinnati or Columbus.

Rail supporters say they are confident that studies projecting 478,000 riders in the first year of operation are realistic. They argue the service will appeal to tourists, college students and the elderly and will be ideal for school field trips to museums and other attractions.

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