Rail advocate argues for Amtrak move in Elyria, wider rail expansion

ELYRIA — On Thursday, residents heard the most detailed plans ever publicly presented on both moving Amtrak service into downtown Elyria, and expanding passenger rail service in the city and across the region. Amtrak has announced plans to move Elyria's existing Amtrak passenger rail station from its current location on an uncovered platform east of downtown into the historic Lorain County Transportation Center. Residents heard the latest details about that plan, but also learned about the efforts of rail user advocacy group All Aboard Ohio to expand rail service in Ohio and return daytime train service to Elyria for the first time in decades. Brian Schriver, director of the Northeast Region for All Aboard Ohio, argued that increased rail service would provide transportation freedom and economic development for the entire region, but in Elyria it could also place dozens of additional shoppers in downtown Elyria every day. The move Elyria's existing Amtrak station is a simple platform and bus stop-style shelter that riders often complain is poorly lit and hard to access. The only Amtrak service at the location is the Lake Shore Limited line to Chicago, which is only scheduled to stop in Elyria between 1 and 5 a.m. Despite this, the station saw 13,125 passengers either get on or off there in 2025, equivalent to about 30 people a day and enough to make it the third busiest Amtrak station in the state. "The good news is you can take an Amtrak trip, and that is about the end of it," Schriver said of the Elyria station. "So what we want to do is make sure that our third busiest station can have this beautiful space, and we are working on that." Amtrak has committed $5 million of a proposed $10 million needed to move the station into the county-owned Transportation Center. The county is seeking an additional $4 million from the Federal Railroad Administration, but that funding would require a roughly $800,000 match from local sources. All Aboard Ohio is serving as an advocate to help find additional funding sources. On Thursday, Schriver showed the public a rendering created by Amtrak of the proposed future station for the first time. He said the plan would include creating a new building separate from the Transportation Center which would house stairs and ramps and/or elevators up to the level of the tracks to allow access. That separate building would only be used for getting up to the tracks, with the transportation center serving as the actual station where riders would wait. This would provide riders with an indoor space to be safer from the elements as well as access to bathrooms and vending machines. Expanding service Schriver acknowledged that while those in attendance may see the benefits of moving the station in its own right, others may feel it was a large project to undertake just to bring riders into downtown Elyria in the early morning hours, when businesses are closed. That is where All Aboard Ohio's larger efforts for Northeast Ohio come into play, he said. "Obviously, it is a little easier to build political will for the money to do this project if we have service that comes during the day, and not just because the train is late," Schriver said. According to Schriver, All Aboard Ohio is supporting two efforts to bring new rail service into the region. The first would be a Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit route, often called the CTD. This would be a revival of the old daily Mercury train route between Cleveland and Detroit that was once operated by the New York Central Railroad, the company that first built the Transportation Center in 1925. Schriver said the line has been proposed and studied by Amtrak, and is awaiting review from the Federal Rail Administration. He said that it would include stops in Elyria, Sandusky and at the Detroit Metro Airport. The issue with that proposed plan, Schriver said, is uncertainty about whether it would be able to secure necessary funding from Ohio and Michigan. The alternative plan for a new rail line through Elyria is the proposed Great Lakes Limited, a long-distance line running from New York City to Detroit. Schriver said because the Limited would be a long-distance route, it would be eligible for federal funding that the CTD route would not, giving it an alternative funding source if Ohio or Michigan cannot prop up the shorter route. The key for Elyria, Schriver said, is that either of these new routes would be single-day service, meaning that they would pass through Elyria during the day rather than in the early morning hours. Schriver said the new routes would improve travel flexibility for all residents and the region in general. "What this is about is creating more choices and transportation freedom by giving people options," Schriver said. "Even if you are never going to ride on this train, you still benefit from other people taking the train because they are not crashing into you and wrecking your vehicle and adding traffic and congestion and all of these things." More than being about connecting Cleveland and Detroit or Detroit and New York directly, Schriver said that the economic and personal benefits of the new lines would be much more about closer connectivity between stations within the line. Two examples he used were improving access to the Detroit and Cleveland Airports for Toledo residents and parents in Northeast Ohio being able to send their kids to college in northern Pennsylvania by train, rather than having to drive them both ways. If residents are interested in supporting advocacy for the Amtrak station move or rail expansion in Ohio, Schriver asked them to sign up to be members of All Aboard Ohio online or contacting their Congressional representatives to voice their support for rail. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.