By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green officials want to be on board if passenger rail comes through the city.
On Monday evening, City Council members voted unanimously to support the development of a passenger rail line from Toledo to Columbus with a stop in Bowling Green.
“This is an exciting concept that most clearly would benefit this region, and could potentially benefit the citizens of Bowling Green,” Mayor Mike Aspacher said before council voted on the issue.
“I’ll be eager to represent the city of Bowling Green in these discussions,” the mayor said.
City Council members agreed, with Bill Herald saying a passenger rail hub could be a “game changer” for the city.
“I’m pleased this City Council can add our voice to the choir singing the praises of passenger rail,” Herald said.
The Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments is working with partners in the region to preserve existing passenger rail and find opportunities to expand service.
Council member Sandy Rowland cautioned that the rail study is just the beginning.
“It’s going to take a long time. We don’t want to get overly excited,” Rowland said. “But they are going to do a study – and that’s how it gets started.”
“It could mean wonderful things for our part of the state and the city,” council member Rachel Phipps said.
Council President Mark Hollenbaugh said this time the rail project just might work.
“It was discussed about a decade ago and it kind of died,” he said. “We felt it was important to act to support it early on. We want to make sure those trains stop in Bowling Green.”
The resolution passed by City Council cites a goal of “attracting and retaining young professionals and families” and improving sections of Bowling Green.
The original Ohio Hub plan was developed in the early 2000s by Jim Seney, a former mayor of Sylvania, who was asked by then Gov. Bob Taft to head up the newly created Ohio Rail Development Commission.
The Republican Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to support the plan, and Taft signed off on it, according to Jerry Wicks of Bowling Green, who has been pushing for years to resurrect the plan. Despite the strong Republican support, the plan was shelved. It gathered dust, Wicks said, until a few years later when then Gov. Ted Strickland’s staff dusted it off, updated the numbers and submitted it to the Federal Railroad Administration. But it failed to get traction.
Now the plan is being talked about again – with the possibility of a hub being built in Bowling Green.
“The whole venture is a great opportunity for BG and will create many new and unexpected economic developments up and down the line,” Wicks wrote. “It’s going to shape the design of Court Street, Wooster Street, the Gateway Project, and influence the value of housing and real estate when those in other communities realize that in BG we can hop on the train and head to Toledo, Columbus, or DTW whenever we like.”
Last year, Wicks allowed himself to get optimistic about local passenger rail services. He voiced hope that “Amtrak Joe” Biden may be Ohio’s ticket to finally getting train service for travelers.
Wicks is a member of the transportation advocacy group All Aboard Ohio, which has bemoaned the fact that Ohio is the most-populous state in America without a state-supported passenger rail service.
“It would be wonderful for Ohio. It would be wonderful for Bowling Green,” Wicks said.
Such a rail network could connect Bowling Green residents and BGSU students by rail to Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and several sites in between. The thought of local residents and students being able to catch a train at a Court Street station is thrilling to Wicks.
“It would be great for higher education,” he said. “It ties everyone together in ways we haven’t been tied in the past.”
Eventually, the Ohio routes could be linked to Michigan destinations like Ann Arbor or Detroit, Wicks envisioned.
The links would broaden markets for information and businesses, he said.
“It’s going to present Bowling Green with some real opportunities,” he said. “It will be exciting.”
