WASHINGTON, D.C. — The train has left the station, and few people in Ohio are happy about it.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday that the federal government is taking away $400 million it had awarded Ohio for a passenger rail project. The train would have provided service between Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

Instead, the money will be sent to California, New York, Florida and other states planning high-speed train service, because Gov.-elect John Kasich told President Barack Obama's administration that he has no intention of ever building the passenger line.

With average speeds from 39 mph to 50 mph initially, the so-called 3-C line in Ohio would hardly qualify as high-speed or attract enough passengers, Kasich said, and would require an annual subsidy from Ohio taxpayers of $17 million.

LaHood and Obama could not change Kasich's mind, so the federal government on Thursday said that's fine, because other states want the money. Ohio's portion and an even larger sum being revoked from Wisconsin, where another incoming governor won't build a railroad, create a $1.2 billion windfall for other states' passenger projects.

A congresswoman from New York, Louise Slaughter, even cheered the decision, saying, "If other states don't want their high-speed rail money, New York will take it because we understand that high-speed rail is an essential element to our transportation system and a good rail system is an important element of our national security."

Yet Kasich is not counting this as a clear win, because he says the federal government should have allowed him to use the $400 million to fix bridges, freight rail crossings and roads in Ohio. If that wasn't allowed, the money should have gone to the Treasury for debt reduction, said Kasich, a Republican and onetime chairman of the budget committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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"Governor-elect Kasich is disappointed that the White House is not giving Ohio the flexibility he has asked for to use the money for infrastructure needs like freight rail that can spur commerce and economic growth," his spokesman, Rob Nichols, said. Kasich "finds it tragic," Nichols said, "that instead of saving taxpayer money, they would simply waste it elsewhere."

The U.S. Department of Transportation said there was no choice but to spend Ohio's rail money on other high-speed lines, because it was required in last year's economic stimulus bill.

Ohio has 492 other projects

Besides, that bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has already provided Ohio with $1.1 billion for 492 projects improving roads, bridges, transit and airports, LaHood told Kasich in a letter just after Kasich defeated current Gov. Ted Strickland in the November election.

Who gets the money

California up to $624 million Florida up to $342.3 million Washington

up to $161.5 million Illinois up to $42.3 million New York up to $7.3 million Maine up to $3.3 million Massachusetts up to $2.8 million Vermont up to $2.7 million Missouri up to $2.2 million Wisconsin up to $2 million for the Hiawatha line

And smaller sums for

Oregon, North Carolina,

Iowa and Indiana





Strickland, a Democrat in his final weeks in office, said LaHood's announcement marked "one of the saddest days during my four years as governor."

"Because I see jobs leaving Ohio, I see resources leaving Ohio, I see vital infrastructure leaving Ohio," Strickland said. "I can't understand the logic of giving up these vital, job-creating resources to California and Florida at a time when so many Ohioans need jobs."

Democrats in Congress and at the Statehouse voiced similar reactions. They saw the rail project as a catalyst for jobs, and some said the speeds of the proposed train would have accelerated as tracks were straightened and improved over time.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said that by "turning our backs on this federal investment, we are turning our backs on an opportunity to bring rail manufacturing jobs to Ohio."

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights said it means the loss of 8,000 jobs -- the number of spinoff jobs projected once service was running -- and called the decision "a sucker punch in this kind of economy."

U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton of Copley Township called it "extremely disappointing," saying that jobs will be created and infrastructure improved in other states -- but not in Ohio.

Not a 'done deal,' advocates say

Yet rail advocates aren't giving up.

"Until grant agreements with the new state recipients have been signed, we don't consider this a done deal," said Bill Hutchison, president of All Aboard Ohio, an association that championed the prospect of inter-city Ohio rail travel.

It takes months for agreements to be finalized, and even $385.1 million of Ohio's award was not yet under agreement, he said. As for the other $14.9 million, for preliminary engineering, it is "is under a grant agreement" with the Ohio Department of Transportation "and cannot simply be taken away," Hutchison said.

The federal government has not asked for that smaller sum back, however. LaHood specifically stated a revocation of $385 million from Ohio and $810 million from Wisconsin, although he added that the Federal Railroad Administration will work with these states to determine whether they have already spent money under their contracts that should be reimbursed.

The money will be redirected in this manner, LaHood said: California, up to $624 million; Florida, up to $342.3 million; Washington State, up to $161.5 million; Illinois, up to $42.3 million, New York, up to $7.3 million, Maine, up to $3.3 million, Massachusetts, up to $2.8 million, Vermont, up to $2.7 million; Missouri, up to $2.2 million; Wisconsin, up to $2 million for the Hiawatha line, and smaller sums for Oregon, North Carolina, Iowa and Indiana.