The ridership was a surprise to Councilman Michael Ryan, who has been Hamilton’s liaison with Amtrak, which is aiming to include more stops to its Cardinal route, and the Ohio Rail Development Commission, who is working on the state’s leg of the 3C+D north-south route.
“I think those are good numbers, potentially 15,000 per year, 100 per day, I think those are really good numbers,” he said, adding he thought those numbers would be lower.
Ryan told his council colleagues that he wants to see the city “really be strategic with our next steps.”
“We know what we are doing right now is preparing for the future,” he said. “I think it’s critically important that we strategically place ourselves as far down the road on this as we can.”
And that’s the advice Wormald gave to City Council when presenting the feasibility study to council. He advised the city “control the things that you can control, and be engaged in the things you can’t control.”
“In the nearer term, over the next year, year-and-a-half, (the Ohio Rail Development Commission) and Amtrak are going to be undertaking these planning processes,” he said.
A lot of information, and assumptions, was presented in AECOM’s feasibility study, from current railroad operations to prototype estimates related to construction cost. They also looked at seven possible sites, including the long-discussed relocated former CSX depot (formerly known as the Cincinnati-Hamilton-Dayton station), Symmes Park, and former Beckett Paper Mill. The firm also looked at the former Pennsylvania Railroad Station site and an area near the Hamilton Justice Center.
Those five locations were not recommended. Instead, they are suggesting Hamilton focus on sites along the the proposed North Hamilton Crossing route and just south of the South Hamilton Crossing railroad overpass. These two sites, Wormald said, offered the best possibilities as it provided sufficient for tracks and provided the best options for pedestrian and vehicular access. Because the city is looking to develop the former Beckett Paper Mill site, that location is not being recommended in this report.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
North Hamilton Crossing site
East-west traffic has only two routes it can cross railroad tracks without obstruction by trains: High Street and South Hamilton Crossing.
The city has been planning for years to develop a North Hamilton Crossing corridor to move east-west traffic via an overpass over the railroad. This project could exceed $100 million and take around a decade to complete. AECOM is recommending as the city plans for that project, it consider a possible passenger rail stop along that path.
The location of the station would be north of Vine Street and west of the railroad tracks next to what’s designated as overflow parking for Spooky Nook.
“One of the important things with this site is to coordinate between a potential future rail facility and the North Hamilton Crossing as it evolves over the next few years,” Wormald said.
Wormald said there could be joint-use with the parking lot, which is owned by the city of Hamilton, according to the Butler County Auditor. The area where the consultant suggests the station could be located is privately owned by Kornylak Corporation, though, the consultant said that part of the company’s land, including two buildings, is not being actively used as it stands today.
This possible site would only be able to accommodate the 3C+D passenger rail route.
“This does provide good connectivity to the (Crawford-Hoying) development site and it’s literally across the Black Street bridge from Spooky Nook,” Wormald said. “There’s obviously some development activity in that area that would be well-served by the station.”
Depending on the need of freight in this area, a dedicated station track may need to be constructed. Today, there are two tracks.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
South Hamilton Crossing site
At a site that was once called South Hamilton Yards by the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (it is now known as CSX). The proposed station would be south of Grand Boulevard and on the westside of the tracks.
This site, which is owned by CSX, would require new construction, including a parking area, and pedestrian and vehicular access. There may also be a need to construct a dedicated track. Some private property acquisition may be needed for the access road.
“This does have the advantage of being right there, next to Miami University Regional campus, and it could also support other development on that parcel,” Wormald said, like an industrial, commercial or mixed-use development there.
While the northern Hamilton proposed location could only accommodate the north-south passenger rail corridor, this site would be able to accommodate both the 3C+D route and the Amtrak Cardinal route passenger rail route.
Cost estimates and next steps
There are two types of stations that could be built. A high-level platform station, which would require the construction of an elevated track. A low-level platform station is built at-grade with tracks.
AECOM’s report showed prototype estimates, predicting construction costs could be as much as $5.75 million for the high-level platform station and as much as $3.69 million for the low-level platform station. But by 2030, when the construction stations could be closer to reality, inflation could push those estimates up by as much as 25% over today’s estimates, Wormald said.
The estimates does not include property acquisition, and there is likely some cost differences between the two sites if and when one or both are chosen for stations.
It’s recommended either station would be unstaffed by the station operator, outside of security and janitorial personnel, and the annual maintenance cost could be $150,000 a year or less.
Wormald recommended to City Council as it considers long-term property acquisition strategies and plans for near-term engagement with decision-makers, it also put in place zoning classifications that defines passenger rail use and “preserve access to the tracks that you have.”
He also advises conversations with getting people to and from any station, such as a partnership with Butler County Regional Transit Authority or some ride-share service or shuttle. BCRTA has a partnership with Amtrack on the multimodal station at Chestnut Fields in Oxford, which the bus portion of that project is expected to be completed later this year. Amtrak is expected to begin operations in 2026.
Implementing passenger rail services on the 3C+D line isn’t likely to begin until after 2030. Amtrak was given the okay to evaluate improvements for daily train service on the existing Cardinal line, which travels between Chicago and New York City. This study won’t be completed until 2027.
“It’s important for the city to be engaged with ORDC, with Amtrak, with their state officials as these plans move forward, not necessarily to say we have a station site ready to go, but to be engaged in the process,” Wormald said. “There’s a lot of change going on in the administration right now. How the Trump Administration views passenger rail right now still kind of remains to be determined. There really hasn’t been a lot said publicly yet how the new administration plans to move forward with passenger rail.”
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