STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — There’s a possible game changer in the works for the area with the addition of rail travel possibly coming to Steubenville to be a hub on a connector between Chicago and Pittsburgh.
The Federal Railroad Administration has proposed four new rail lines, including the Ohio Valley, the Midwest Connect.
“The 540-mile corridor from Chicago to Pittsburgh. It goes from Chicago to Fort Wayne, Ind., through Columbus, Ohio, and its last stop in Steubenville in Ohio before it reaches Pittsburgh. This has received the Federal Corridor ID so that first part of it, the $650,000 study was completed,” BHJ Planning Commission Executive Director Mike Paprocki said.
The project remains in the early stages, with additional studies needed before a final plan is drafted.
“What a service would look like, a timetable of events, how much the stations would cross. They’re also looking at how much they would have to upgrade the existing infrastructure, so in other words, they’re starting to build the case for what is the cost and the benefit,” Paprocki said.
Paprocki said funding is in place for the next step, allowing crews to continue evaluating how the project could come to the area.
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“There’s dollars to advance this and future dollars, we’ll see where it goes, but at least to get it through this step, once they get the approval to show a positive benefit cost ratio to this, they’ll go and step into the engineering phase, so we’re looking at a possibility of 18 to 24 months to get this phase done,” Paprocki said.