Amtrak seeks $300m for Great Lakes-area stations

By Ken Prendergast / April 26, 2024



Cleveland’s Amtrak station occasionally sees a daylight passenger train when one of its nightly Chicago-East Coast trains is tardy enough. When that happens, Clevelanders get to imagine what it might be like if had normal daytime train service like its counterparts in neighboring states and a station more befitting a major city (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland ID’d as beneficiary of stations program

Cleveland and other Northern Ohio cities would gain new, larger train stations from a program proposed by passenger railroad Amtrak to improve its intercity services here. The program, a five-year, $300 million Great Lakes Stations Improvement initiative, represents the first time in Amtrak’s 53-year history that it has pursued such an aggressive development effort for this region and specifically for the Cleveland-Chicago route.

In its fiscal year 2025 budget request to Congress, Amtrak spelled out a number of capital improvement programs it wants in order to improve service, safety and efficiency. Amtrak ridership is, so far in fiscal year 2024 (started Oct. 1), exceeding its record high achieved in pre-pandemic 2019. The capital improvements are part of its plan to double its ridership nationwide by the end of 2040.

To do that, Amtrak’s existing trains must become more reliable and faster. And they need to serve more comfortable stations that are better connected with local, regional and other intercity transportation providers like Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) buses and trains, Greyhound, GoBus and Barons Bus. Amtrak says its Great Lakes Stations Improvement program can help accomplish all of those goals.

In the first year of the new program, Amtrak wants Congress to direct $25 million to it in order to support pre-construction activities — designs, environmental documentation and permitting. Over the full five-year program, Amtrak wants a total of $300 million from Congress to build/expand the stations it plans. ... “The Great Lakes Stations Improvement initiative would support new or improved stations in communities along the southern coasts of the Great Lakes, with an initial emphasis on 10 communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana,” Amtrak said in its request to Congress. “The initiative could also be expanded to other states. Specific project types could include construction of new station buildings, including station relocations; reconstruction or addition of platforms; and various kinds of trackwork in and around the relevant stations.”

For Cleveland, Amtrak says it wants a “new station with additional tracks and platform space.” Although it doesn’t say where that station would be, the city of Cleveland’s lakefront planning work completed thus far shows a 150,000-square-foot multi-modal transit hub next to and replacing the existing Amtrak station. The site is just west of East 9th Street and north of City Hall, combining Amtrak and GCRTA buses and trains in a single facility.

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Dearborn, MI’s train station provides an example of what Amtrak would like to see at stations along the Cleveland-Chicago route. This station has boarding platforms next to both main tracks and are connected by a grade-separated walkway so travelers can safely get from platform to the other (Midwest High Speed Rail Association).

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