Study shows Columbus is one of the largest cities in the world with no railway system

Back in 2020, Ohio State University’s College of Engineering released a study that showed Columbus being the largest city in the United States without passenger railway service. “It quickly became apparent that Columbus cannot become a world-class city without a world-class transportation system,” they said.

Well, Columbus isn’t just the largest city in the United States to be missing a key component in public transportation – it’s actually the 9th largest city in the entire world without a passenger rail system, according to GeoGlobal.

Based on the 2023 population consensus, Columbus has a population of 2.1million people, but still no adequate public transportation system. Other cities listed in the top 10 list, starting with the most to the least populated, include Bogota (Columbia), Kabul (Afghanistan), Cali (Colombia), Sana’a (Yemen), Mogadishu (Somalia), Manaus (Brazil), Beirut (Lebanon), Columbus (Ohio, USA), and at the 10th spot, Abu Dhabi (UAE).

John Esterly, a Chairman of Ohio State Legislative Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and a proud advocate of passenger rail, posted the infographic on ‘X’ and said, “Working on # 9, my friends.” He was referring to Columbus in the 9th place. “We’re gonna have passenger rail in Ohio if I have to drive the train myself. And that’s not an idle threat,” he also posted on ‘X.’

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There’s been constant news of a passenger railway coming to Columbus for decades, with former governor John Kasich even turning down $400 million in federal grant funding for an Amtrak line connecting Cleveland to Cincinnati back in 2013. Most recently, the federal government approved four Amtrak routes through some of Ohio’s major cities, connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati to each other, plus to Pittsburgh and Chicago.

Multiple studies show that a passenger rail could boost Columbus’ economy by tens of millions of dollars. While we definitely want to remain optimistic, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see if the proposed Amtrak line actually happens.

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