Soul Train

As it's wont to do, the Dayton Daily News reports that Dayton may well be getting in on that new, exciting railroad craze that's been sweeping the nation. A proposed downtown station, located on 6th and Ludlow, would be just one stop on a line that would connect Dayton, Cinci, Columbus and Cleveland. An additional stop would be constructed in Riverside, complete with a hotel and eatery. This wouldn't be coming out of the city's pockets, either: the cost of the 5.7 million dollar project would be eaten by the whopping eight billion federal bucks put aside for rail funds.

From the standpoint of business and impact on the economy -- because that's the subject of this blog and I'm sticking to it -- you don't exactly need to be a genius to see how this is a good thing. More travel and tourism? A new industry that is expected to, according to Amtrak's projections, ferry nearly half a million people a year? The ripple effect -- what what a nice effect it is -- that touches on other types of regional businesses when you drop something of this nature in local waters? It's good news...provided it ever goes through, and provided people use it.

You know, on that note, let's have an aside from my own personal experiences. A heap of people take the Grayhound to Columbus from Dayton -- those busses are seriously always packed full. Some people can't afford cars, but they can afford the ten bucks to shoot up north to visit the Buckeyes; it's not exactly a market with no customers. Those big things aren't exactly slow, but they're hardly speedy either: call it two hours, two and a half to get to Columbus if you're running a little behind, as opposed to the one and a quarter hours it might take you by car. The nice thing about trains is that they shoot a much straighter line than any bus could, they don't have to deal with traffic, and they don't have to deal with the same set of speed limitations imposed on other vehicles? So ultimately, do people want to get to their destinations faster? Well...yeah, of course.

I've never thought of Dayton as much of a train town: that's probably because the rails shut down, in the respect I'm thinking of, before I was even born. But I expect I could be persuaded to change my mind. I've got a car -- I don't NEED to take a train...but it might be nice, and (what's more) should gas ever get back to nearly five bucks a gallon, it might be a whole lot cheaper.