Once viewed as a possible relief valve during major reconstruction of Route 28, a commuter rail line proposed for the Allegheny Valley remains a distant dream.

With construction of the North Side section of Route 28 set to begin next month and disrupt traffic through the fall of 2014, the rail line to Downtown Pittsburgh, talked about for more than a decade, has yet to advance beyond preliminary studies.

Robert Ardolino, a consultant to the Allegheny Valley Railroad, which has been offering to provide commuter service along its line since 1999, said the current $220 million to $230 million proposal would provide service from Tarentum Bridge Road in Arnold to the Light Rail Transit station at Steel Plaza, Downtown.

It would have stops at New Kensington, Oakmont-Verona, Nadine Road in Penn Hills and 40th and 26th streets in the city. At 26th Street, new tracks would cross at street level to the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and follow that corridor into Downtown.

Mr. Ardolino, CEO of Urban Innovations, said the possibility of using the abandoned light-rail spur from Penn Station to Steel Plaza will be explored, as will ending the commuter rail line at 26th Street and extending the LRT system to there.

He said the project has a commitment of $171 million in private financing and could be completed as soon as fall 2013. But there is much to do, including creation of new agency composed of Allegheny County, Westmoreland County and Pittsburgh representatives to oversee it.

A ridership study, investment analysis and environmental impact study would follow, he said. The agency also would need to secure federal funding to complete the financing. Then, construction would take 18 months.

Allegheny Valley Railroad currently operates freight service through the corridor.

Mr. Ardolino said an alternate route through East Liberty and into Downtown via the Norfolk Southern line that runs parallel to the busway is not practical because of the volume of freight train traffic using the tracks.

A position paper produced by Allegheny Valley Railroad late last year said that a $500,000 federally funded study "showed commuter rail to be feasible but did not include imaginative options that make it truly desirable."

It did not explore using the LRT line into Steel Plaza or restoring a rail line at the other end of the corridor to extend service to Tarentum Bridge Road, the paper said.

It noted that while "a number of studies have been undertaken, little progress has been made" while at least nine cities elsewhere in the U.S. have started new commuter rail operations.

Meanwhile, Ohio is moving ahead with a study of improving passenger rail service between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

The state has signed a $7.8 million contract with AECOM, a consulting firm, to explore 110-mph service in four corridors: Cleveland to Pittsburgh, Detroit to Toledo to Cleveland, Toledo to Columbus, and Cleveland to Columbus to Cincinnati.

Stu Nicholson, spokesman for the Ohio Rail Development Commission, said the consultant would look at environmental issues, route improvements, freight traffic, population distribution and potential ridership. The study is expected to take a year.

Amtrak currently operates one daily train, the Capitol Limited, between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. It travels at an average 48 mph.

Ohio has ambitious plans to develop high-speed passenger service throughout the state and in January was awarded $400 million in federal economic stimulus funds for development of what it calls the "3C corridor" of the state's three largest cities, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

"We've always said that what we're doing in the 3C is just a start-up," Mr. Nicholson said.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.