I recently forwarded a “Dear Friend” e-mail from the Rail Passengers Association to my own friends within and outside of All Aboard Ohio.

The email message from RPA Executive Director Jim Matthews ends with a pitch to join or donate to the RPA. It’s a similar pitch that’s often made in many of All Aboard Ohio’s emails and other communications.

Which brings up the valid question: Why should I join or donate to two organizations doing what appears to be the same task - advocating for more and better passenger rail service? Okay, so here’s why.

No public transportation advocacy organization reaches out as effectively within the State of Ohio than All Aboard Ohio. That’s especially gratifying when you consider what were very lean times in the wake of 2010, when Ohio’s Governor returned over $400-million in Federal Railroad Administration grant dollars to get passenger rail started in Ohio’s 3C&D Corridor. Membership dropped as did the income from those memberships and donations because there didn’t seem to be any hope of expanded passenger rail service in and for Ohio.

Much the same was true at the national level for the RPA. Passenger rail advocacy was largely defending the existence of and increasing the funding for Amtrak.

Until the Bi-Partisan Jobs and Infrastructure Act put a record $66.3-Billion dollars on the table for passenger rail grants under the FRA’s Corridor ID program. It was a development every advocate hoped for but never expected to see in such large funding numbers.

In short, both AAO and the RPA were energized by the sheer volume of state-by-state interest. As we know, Ohio has three corridors proceeding into the second phase of required study:

·       The 3C&D (Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati)

·       Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit

·       The Midwest Connect (Chicago-Fort Wayne-Lima-Columbus-Pittsburgh)

Almost on the heel of all of this great news, we’ve experienced what most would agree is a major regime change in the White House. Regardless of one’s politics, it is the reality we are all dealing with. Hence, the above “Dear Friend” email from RPA.

My point is this.  Both organizations are not only worthy of your being a member: I would argue it is a “must” to belong to and donate to both.

Just as the RPA is working in Congress and among rail industry leaders on all of the above priorities, so is All Aboard Ohio working hard and meeting success in its advocacy at the Ohio Statehouse and among public and private sector leaders. The effort to get the funding to re-join the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission and increased funding for the Ohio Rail Development Commission are important achievements.

To be sure there is a degree of cross-membership between RPA and AAO. But it could and should be better and stronger. And what better time to support both a statewide and national advocacy effort than right now?

Because we are now seeing an historic amount of investment in passenger rail in Ohio, many of our neighboring states and nationally, there is no better reason for making our voice as advocates larger and louder.  We are starting to be heard, and effectively so, in the halls of Congress and the Ohio Statehouse. There’s more work to be done, for sure. But advocating for increased investment in passenger rail means we need to invest in our own movements at both the state and national levels.

I am a member of both RPA and AAO. You should be, too.