Rail Issues in the TMACOG Region

Railroads are an important and integral part of our region’s intermodal transportation network. In fact, Toledo is one of the largest rail hubs in the U.S. TMACOG leads regional progress -- and did groundbreaking work in the state of Ohio -- by including railroads and rail issues in the transportation-planning process. Under the TMACOG Railroad Task Force (expanded to become the Freight Committee), TMACOG has:

Developed a Railroad Inventory, a report and a series of maps showing rail lines and yards, the unique federal number for each rail/street crossing and industries with direct connections to rail lines. The maps were recently updated to show new ownership following the Conrail merger. For information on the cost of maps, including customized versions, contact Patrick Dennis, 419/241-9155 ext. 115 or dennis@tmacog.org

Updated the Railroad Inventory (2003) by developing and posting two TMACOG area rail facilities maps.

The first, Rail Ownership and Traffic Volumes, gives the name of the rail company, the average number of trains per day, and typical types of freight carried. Rail corridors carrying passenger trains (Amtrak) are also indicated. Click here for information on Southeast Michigan Rail Ownership

The second map, Rail Intersections and Grade Separations, shows the location of the hundreds of public and private rail-street crossings in the metropolitan area. Crossings that are grade-separated (overpasses and underpasses) are indicated.

Participated in the Conrail merger process. As a party of record in the merger proceedings, TMACOG gathered the region’s concerns and submitted a position paper to the Federal Surface Transportation Board. We also negotiated directly with CSX and Norfolk Southern to get the best results for our region. In the post-merger era, TMACOG continues to keep an open dialogue between our communities and the railroads through rail issues forums and regular meetings of the Freight Committee.

Developed a Railroad Contacts List. A partial list is included below. For additional numbers, contact TMACOG:

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