Quote Originally Posted by professorscott View Post
The tracks exist but you can't use them without the owner's position. That has been holding up the Ann Arbor to Detroit commuter rail project for over a decade now, and I'm sure they'd run into the same problem trying to resurrect commuter rail between Pontiac and Detroit.
It looks like there's going to be a war between Amtrak, and all of the freight train companies to get a commuter rail project started.

Considering the history of the metro Detroit's politics, I'm pretty realistic that it may take many years for such a project to happen.

Politics in Oakland and Macomb county would have to change for the better and the only chance we have for it to change to support the RTA, would be to play at the construction projects and the years of long traffic that are on the horizon. We could play at the reality that should the RTA's proposal fail a second time even with some modifications to satisfy these counties, that their future will be spent waiting in long traffic for the next 12 years.