The Columbus Dispatch - Jobs Coming Down the Track

News Article

By James Nash

Reviving passenger rail service across Ohio is one of the best ways to jumpstart the state's manufacturing economy, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said this morning.

Brown, a Democrat, has been a strong supporter of Ohio's federally funded project to run passenger trains from Cleveland to Cincinnati with major stops in Columbus and Dayton.

Just hours after other trainiacs made their case to fiscal conservatives, Brown and two other rail supporters pitched the 3C rail plan as a jobs booster.

"Passenger rail is about more than another option to get people from Cincinnati to Dayton to Columbus to Cleveland," Brown said. "Bringing rail back to Ohio means another opportunity for workers and businesses."

Brown was joined on a conference call by representatives of Policy Matters Ohio, which just issued a report noting the economic benefits of the rail plan, and U.S. Railcar Inc., a local company that touts itself as the only domestic manufacturer of passenger trains.

"We have no doubt that (passenger service) will be successful," said Barry Frohm, U.S. Railcar chairman. "Our railcars can be used to expand the arterials to the 3C (Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati) and D (Dayton)."

He said there's no guarantee that his company would land the contract to build Ohio's passenger trains, saying the matter should be open to competitive bidding.

Brown castigated opponents and skeptics of the train plan as "Luddites" and said they were standing in the way of creating jobs.

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