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The Greater Cleveland RTA may close its trains to the public for late-night routes during the 2016 Republican National Convention to help get conventioneers back to their hotels after events are over for the day.

(Gus Chan / The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The RTA rapid might close to the public late at night during the Republican National Convention in July 2016 as part of a plan to get convention-goers to and from the four-day event, officials said.

The possible train closure would support the Greater Cleveland RTA's plan, which is still under development, to manage downtown traffic while shuttling thousands of delegates back to their hotels after convention events end for the day, according to Executive Director Joe Calabrese.

While one-third of conventioneers are expected to stay in hotels in downtown Cleveland, the trains could be used to shuttle the remaining two-thirds out of town to waiting, privately chartered buses that would take them to their various hotels in the surrounding area.

Another possible rationale for closing the trains is security. Tower City, the downtown shopping mall and RTA train hub, is connected via an RTA-controlled walkway to Quicken Loans Arena, a main convention venue.

"If we need to, and no one has said we need to do this, we certainly could have the walkway made exclusive for delegates at break time, and we could have the trains exclusive to delegates during break time," Calabrese said in a recent interview with reporters and editors.

But Linda Krecic, an RTA spokeswoman, stressed that talks of closing the trains are "very preliminary" at this point.

"It's just one of the things they'd look at," she said.

Under the terms of the city's successful bid to land the RNC, the RTA is responsible for developing a plan, in conjunction with the GOP, to provide transportation for the delegates to and from convention events in downtown Cleveland. Otherwise, the agency is exploring how to use its network of trains, buses and trolleys in concert to help deal with an expected 50,000 convention-related visitors with minimal disruptions to the city.

Heavy downtown traffic has been a major problem for past conventions in other cities, and it's a problem convention organizers here hope to avoid. The National GOP cited Cleveland's public transit network as among the city's strengths that led to Cleveland being chosen to host the event.

As part of its plan, the RTA expects to charter up to 264 privately owned buses, financed by the private host committee that aims to raise about $65 million to help pay for the RNC. It can't charter its own buses for convention-goers because it's illegal for the RTA to do so, under a law that's meant to prevent the agency from competing with the private sector.

But the restriction does not apply to the agency's trains, Calabrese said.

Calabrese said the RTA ultimately will defer to the security plan that eventually will be developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service.

"We hope we can deliver a very good product to the delegates. And we'll be working with them over the next year, year-and-a-half, to figure out what that is," Calabrese said.

Among the other factors the RTA will have to juggle: a changed traffic pattern associated with closing Public Square to most traffic as part of an overhaul to make it more like a public park, and the still-underway project to replace the Inner Belt Bridge.

Regardless of how the transportation plan shakes out, RTA officials expect to see during the convention increased use of the Red Line that connects Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to downtown, the Healthline bus route connecting downtown to hotels in University Circle and the newly established bus route that runs along Clifton Boulevard, connecting to Cleveland State University, where convention organizers have reserved 650 dorm rooms.

In the coming months, the RTA also plans to buy eight new downtown trolleys so it can ramp up service during the convention. Once the event is over, the RTA will retire older trolleys, restoring its fleet to pre-convention levels, Calabrese said.

The RNC is scheduled to last from July 18 to July 21. Planning efforts are expected to ramp up soon, including the hiring of full-time, Cleveland-based convention staff by the Republican National Committee.

This story and headline have been revised to clarify the possible train closure would take place late at night.