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COLUMBUS — State transportation officials agreed Thursday to support a private company's bid to make passenger trains that would run on President Barack Obama's proposed high-speed rail network.
U.S. Railcar LLC, which in June bought the assets of a shuttered Colorado railcar company, intends to build a $14 million factory in suburban Columbus that would make diesel-fueled passenger cars and employ about 160 people.
The company would apply for $8.7 million in federal stimulus money to build the plant, with the state offering $3.6 million in economic assistance. The remaining $2.1 million would come from private investment.
The Ohio Rail Development Commission agreed to sponsor the company's stimulus application, which is due Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Transportation expects to make a decision in January. The agency has about $1.5 billion in discretionary spending to award to projects that have a significant impact on the nation, a region or a metropolitan area and can create jobs.
U.S. Railcar aims to compete with international companies that dominate the passenger train industry.
Among the most prominent are Montreal-based Bombardier Inc., which helped build Amtrak's Acela Express between Boston and Washington, D.C., the only high-speed service in the U.S., and the Spanish company Talgo SA, which has a $47 million deal with Wisconsin to produce two 14-car trains to run on the state's Milwaukee-Chicago corridor.
U.S. Railcar will re-establish passenger train production the United States, said Barry Fromm, CEO of Columbus-based Value Recovery Group, whose investors are behind the new rail company.
Iconic U.S. train builders such as Pullman Co. in Chicago and Budd Co. in Philadelphia died out more than 30 years ago with America's shift to highway and air travel.
Fromm's plan calls for building a factory in Gahanna, Ohio, east of the Port Columbus International Airport. Workers would earn an average of $22 an hour, he said. The diesel trains can travel between 79-90 mph and can be upgraded for 125 mph service.
Obama's $787 billion economic recovery package, signed in February, sets aside $8 billion for passenger rail projects in the U.S., something Obama sees as a down payment for a future high-speed network.
The administration's plan requires hundreds of new passenger trains.
Washington state alone is seeking $1 billion for high-speed rail projects, and Michigan is applying for $800 million.
Ohio is seeking about $400 million to launch a startup service along a 250-mile route linking Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. The state's application is due Oct. 2. If approved, passenger trains traveling up to 79 mph would start running in 2011.
