Chris Morisse Vizza

cvizza@jconline.com

While the state searches for a solution to keep the Hoosier State passenger rail line running between Indianapolis and Chicago, a grassroots organization wants to make a business case to extend the route to Cincinnati.

Indiana Passenger Rail Alliance board members last week voted to engage a Maryland transportation consultant to study the economic impact of extending the line to southwest Ohio.

Before work can begin, the alliance must raise $150,000 to $200,000 to fund the study, president Steven Coxhead said.

"We're going to have to go out to various stakeholders and put together a very large amount of money from a large number of fairly moderate contributions," he said.

The fundraising effort will be similar to a successful campaign undertaken by the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association, which solicited $100,000 in donations and in 2012 hired the same Maryland consultant to identify a route from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio, including stops in Gary, Warsaw and Fort Wayne.

NIPRA, based in Fort Wayne, and some government and business leaders in Ohio recently requested a $3 million grant from the Federal Rail Administration for an environmental impact study of the proposed corridor.

"We've gone to city councils, county councils, major private employers, universities and colleges," said Fred Lanahan, chairman of the NIPRA board and a member of the state passenger rail alliance.

Coxhead said the state alliance must seek "new money" from foundations, large businesses, universities and railroad owner CSX Corp.

Local governments and the state are paying roughly $2.7 million this year for Amtrak to operate the 196-mile, four-day-a-week Indianapolis-to-Chicago route after the federal government terminated funding for lines shorter than 750 miles.

Lafayette and West Lafayette will each pay $200,000 this year and Tippecanoe County is on the line for $300,000.

Ohio is ready to help, said Derek Bauman, southwest director of All Aboard Ohio.

Cincinnati-area business representatives frequently travel to Chicago. Flying, however, is too expensive and the five-hour drive is not safe during the winter, Bauman said.

"We're seeing our competitors in St. Louis and Detroit that are moving on this, building higher speed rail," he said. "There's a big business case to be made for this.

"We're looking to signal to leaders in Indiana that we're on the move over here, that we've got 3 million potential customers and we'd like to see the Hoosier State ... expand."

Get the train running at the right times and the right speeds and it will generate a cash flow instead of depend on government subsidies, Bauman said.

Communities served by the Hoosier State and the Indiana Department of Transportation have agreed to keep the train running through Jan, 31, according INDOT multimodal director Bob Zier.

Beyond that, continued service depends on the state's negotiations with Corridor Capital LLC and the many partners along the line.