Amtrak

Amtrak has announced new service that will allow passengers in Ohio to ride one train all the way to Florida. Currently passengers need to switch in Washington D.C.

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission organized a meeting of community and business stakeholders to start planning for passenger rail lines in the Columbus region.

Big and small cities in the Buckeye State are looking to become part of the Amtrak expansion.

Big and small cities in the Buckeye State are looking to become part of the Amtrak expansion.

Big and small cities in the Buckeye State are looking to become part of the Amtrak expansion.

Columbus is one of the biggest cities in America without passenger trains, and while that could change in the next decade, there are complications to keeping it on track.

Federal funding is helping to plan potential passenger rail routes across the state. But it likely will be years before the project comes to fruition.

Research firm Scioto Analysis found central Ohio could gain up to $48 million in the first year of a new passenger rail corridor being constructed, mostly from the jobs to build up the infrastructure.

The Federal Railroad Administration has selected four routes serving Ohio and other states as priorities for Amtrak expansion, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said Tuesday.

Advocacy for more passenger rail service in Ohio in recent years hasn't been fruitful. In 2011, then-Gov. John Kasich was among a few Republican governors who turned down federal funds that had been previously agreed to by their Democratic or independent predecessors for such expansion.