COLUMBUS — Construction is expected to start this spring and the first passengers should hear “all aboard” by the fall of 2012 in Dayton and three other Ohio cities as big-city passenger rail service returns to the state.

Gov. Ted Strickland got so excited about the $400 million in federal economic stimulus funds to build the passenger rail system that he started singing “I’ve been working on the railroad” when talking with reporters on Thursday, Jan. 29.

Phil Parker, president of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, was at the Statehouse for the formal announcement of the grant by U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and hailed it as a boost for downtown Dayton and the entire region.

“This is very good,” said Parker.

The 256-mile 3-C passenger rail corridor — for Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati — includes two proposed Dayton-area stations, at Sixth and Ludlow streets downtown and in Riverside across from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The plan also includes two stations in Cleveland, two in Cincinnati and one each in Columbus and Springfield.

The state had requested $564 million, but Strickland said the $400 million would be enough for the project.

“We asked for money for eight stations and that’s what I’m advancing,” said Matt Dietrich, executive director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission.

An annual state subsidy of up to $17 million is expected for the system, Strickland said.

“Isn’t it a beautiful day in Ohio?” Strickland said at the announcement with Solis. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who lobbied to get the money for Ohio, said in a conference call with reporters that the grant was “the most important announcement since President Obama has taken office.”

Strickland said the ridership projection for the first year is 500,000 passengers and the project is expected to create up to 11,000 jobs.

State Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, however, is critical of the proposal.

“I believe the construction and operation of this planned rail line could serve as one of the biggest money pits in Ohio history,” Husted said.

The project could become “too big to fail” and require increased subsidies from an already financially strapped state, he said.

Michael Gorman, an associate professor at the University of Dayton School of Business, said that to compete with the automobile, passenger rail service will have to be “convenient and economical.”

“The success of passenger rail will depend on ridership,” said Gorman. “I am not ready to proclaim the success or failure of passenger rail.”

Bob Murray, Riverside’s director of planning and economic development, remains confident his city will become a stop on the passenger rail line.

“It’s just fabulous the money is there and on the table,” he said of the $400 million Ohio will receive.

Murray doesn’t know how much Riverside could receive to build a station on 22 acres of city-owned property across from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

“That museum is a draw, which will pull people out of Cincinnati and Cleveland,” he said.

“There is nothing that can compare up or down this line.”

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.