FORT WAYNE -- Allen County Commissioners are considering taking part in a study to provide passenger train service from Fort Wayne to northern Indiana and Chicago.
Whether or not the county joins Fort Wayne, Warsaw and several other communities by contributing funds for a study by the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association will be discussed Friday.
“This is an opportunity to bring passenger rail service to northeast Indiana,” Commissioner Therese Brown said.
Brown said the issue is distinctly different from current campaigns for local high speed rail service, although “at some point could create an advantage” and be part of a larger link.
Currently, rail passengers wishing to travel to Chicago must board the train in Waterloo, about 30 miles north of Fort Wayne. The service to be studied would be in addition to the service that currently connects through Waterloo, Brown said, and is not specific to Allen County.
“This (service) would just eliminate some travel time for some of the commuters,” she said.
The refurbished Baker Street Train Station in downtown Fort Wayne is a great asset. Much of the infrastructure is still there, and it would be a perfect fit, Brown said.
The commissioners meet at 10 a.m. Friday in the courtroom on the basement level of Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St.
For more on this story, see Thursday’s print edition of The Journal Gazette or visit www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Thursday.
vsade@jg.net