Cheesed About Trains

[DetroitDad]

OMG! Yeah, I definitely don't like that we're still on the road with all the speed demons, and would have rather taken the train. Still. Yelp has mostly good reviews.

I had a friend who took the Mega Bus to Chicago over the summer. He was excited that he didn't have to drive himself for once. And then, wouldn't you know it, a state trooper pulls the bus over because it was swerving. The driver was drunk. Needless to say, he got to Union Station pretty late.

[DetroitDad]

I do believe that station is planned to be used for the new Ann Arbor Detroit Rail Project [[delayed until the M-1 line is complete):

Ddi you know Greenfield Village is an Amtrak stop? Way in the back at Smith's Creek Station, you can get on or off the train. I used to work Smith's Creek a lot, and I remember clearly being with a mom who was putting her 18 year old son and his electric guitar on the train, off to college. Oh how she cried.... I went on break after that and I walked her to her car, she was so sad. I eventually got her to laugh before she left.
I used to love taking the train to Ann Arbor.... My mom and I did it plenty of times, and in high school when I mentioned it in my Travel and Tourism class, the teacher was like "Field Trip!!"

[DetroitDad]

Double decker bus, perfect! It's not a bus, it's a double decker bus. LOL!

Tell her exactly what it is, the MegaBus. It's a double decker inter-city mode of transit. They run up and down the east coast, Midwest and all over Great Britain.

[wolverine]

The Clinton station on the Blue Line is 2-3 blocks from Union Station.

No. Do not do this. You'll waste significantly more time. Been there, done that. Walk East to Wells and Quincy. Your transfers are more efficient also....that is unless you are taking the blue line to your final destination. But it's not a pleasant walk.

FYI, while I did mention my experiences on megabus have been good, I do have to echo the concerns of some of the folks here talking about the drivers. They have made me nervous. I had two drivers that were excellent, seemed alert, and regularly reported our ETA. The other drivers were fairly silent, looked extremely drowsy and slurred their words alot.

I don't have any respect for drunk drivers, and certainly think bus drivers caught driving drunk should face a life sentence in jail.

[DetroitDad]

Greetings from Chicago!

This is a strange place, this Chicago.

My wife [[Saginaw) and her friend [[Flint) have never been to a larger city out of a car... they were in awe of Detroit when they first saw it. After my initial suggestion of taking a train, I was pelted with some face smacking comments, mainly "but Sean, how will we get around once were there, we'd have to rent a car anyway".

Well, after explaining that Chicago has one of the best transit systems in the U.S., and then explaining what a transit system is, I suggested the double decker bus, and they loved it. Unfortunately, the bus had doubled in price since I first checked, and they had already booked a cheap hotel in a far off Chicago suburb. It turns out that hotel rooms doubled in price for being near main transit routes, and were more complicated to navigate [[making them to much of a hassle, they told me). Hotel rooms near our downtown destinations, like they many skyscrapers along the Chicago skyline, skyrocketed to some astronomical heights.

So... from Downtown Detroit, past Downtown Chicago, we drove the five hours, in our loud and beat up old compact GM. The noises really start to get to you after a couple hours.

Upon arriving in Illinois, it turns out there are a lot of toll roads, with various check points that all escallated from sixty cents, on up to three to five American dollars.

This is a strange place, this Chicago. There are tangles of motorways everywhere, with express lanes that have signs with to sides facing each direction [[do they change during peak times?). On some motorways, there are some sort of tracks laid out in the median... and stations... some sort of train like mechanisms that are foreign to these here Detroiters. There are multiple level stations and skywalks connecting up to overpasses... I think I even saw a few buses here and there. Most peculiar is the advertisements plastered all over the motorways, with positive phrases about transit, and pictures of trains.... MY GOD! THEY ARE ADVRTISING MASS TRANSIT TO MOTORISTS! BLASPHEMY! Traders! That is NOT the American way!

Things are bound to get weirder, in this crazy experimental prototype city of tomorrow. I hear that there are also taxis here, and tomorrow... well, maybe we'll experiment. I mean, the gals saw the trains everywhere and now want to try to take the train in... so I can blame peer pressure. They say there is a time and a place for everything, and it's called Chicago. So long as we don't get any crazy ideas to bring back home, maybe Detroit won't even notice.

[[Tomorrow we visit the Miracle Mile).

[Russix]

I always stay at the Travelodge in Downtown. It's a 20 minute walk from Union station[[1 mile) or a 12 minute bus ride. With advance planning you can pull off a weekend for two by train for about $275. Oh it's also a block away from the Red Line. Using your trip costs what would estimate a weekend for two would be driving and staying outside of downtown? Just curious!

[DetroitDad]

It was pretty equivelent. $100 for gas round trip. Another $20 for local driving, and $18 for parking all day today. The trip wasn't, and couldn't be planned more than thirty days ahead of time, with details two weeks before. Beyond that, we saved $50-$100 a night at our current hotel, which has free wireless access. What you are otherwise paying for is conveniance. It is more conveniant and less stressful to not require a car.

[dtowncitylover]

And even with many of the expressways having express lanes and a great connected transit system, Chicago still has awful traffic [[even in the off rush hours) and the El cars and Metra trains are still packed to the brim during the rush hours, which is expected I know.

[Rocko]

I take the train whenever its feasible to do so. I recently took the train back to Michigan from New Haven, CT. No airline had any fare close to the $90 I payed, and that included the connecting bus from Toledo Central Union Station to the Ann Arbor Amtrak station [[where my car could park for free, all week). I had the time and had an enjoyable trip. The NEC Shuttle train from New Haven to Springfield, MA was on time. I had a 2 hour layover at Springfield, but you can bet the Amtrak station there is not nearly as chaotic as the McNamara Terminal is for connections. Then I took the Lake Shore Limited west [[basically a full train the whole way), which was early into Toledo. Not bad.

I think one of the best things about the stimulus money was the funds put info Amtrak to repair damaged and out of service rolling stock. 60 Amfleet cars were refurbished [[including turning some unneeded food service cars into coaches), 20 Superliners returned to service, and the prototype Viewliner Diner is being gutted and rehabbed for service. This has basically returned every available car in the Amtrak system that can be used to active revenue-generating service. As a result, Amtrak has been able to increase capacity on some lines, including all three routes in Michigan. As ridership has increased, they've been able to add a few more cars. Not for much longer. Demand has even now begun to outstrip capacity on some trains. In the old pre-Amtrak days, the railroads would just go to the far corner of the yard and pull out some older coaches and tack them onto the rear of a train to add space. Amtrak cannot do that....they have no cars left!

An order has been placed for delivery beginning in 2013 [[I think) for 130 new single level passenger cars to replace the remainder of the Heritage Fleet, which still run on some long-distance routes, and increase the number of sleeping cars on overnight trains. No coaches are included in this order. Michigan may benefit by the purchase of a new fleet of Baggage Cars [[included in the 130), which could restore checked baggage to the Wolverine trains.

Still, I find the train an enjoyable and attractive option for travel. If you haven't taken the train to Chicago [[or anywhere else recently), try it out sometime if you have a choice. If you're interested in supporting passenger rail development and advocacy here in Michigan, check out the Michigan Assoc. of Railroad Passengers at www.marp.org.

Sidenote - I doubt I'll ever take the Megabus anywhere except to my grave. I've been overtaken by them one too many times on 94 flying along at 80mph swerving all over the highway....scary stuff!!

[Rocko]

The gov' should at the very least try and build new connections for passenger rail that by-pass major interchanges for freight trains to try and minimize delays.

The engineering has been completed to re-build the NW connection track at West Detroit Junction, which will eliminate about 10 minutes worth of zig-zagging around southwest Detroit west of the old MC Station. Otherwise, Amtrak routes in Michigan don't really pass through too many busy junctions where the other line is so busy is negatively affects Amtrak. Wayne Diamond is somewhat busy, and Battle Creek is a bottleneck with the way the tracks are currently aligned, especially for Wolverine trains. The majority of these problems occur in Indiana and Illinois. A flyover will be constructed at Englewood Junction on Chicago's SE side, which will eliminate one such delay-prone junction.

[DetroitDad]

And even with many of the expressways having express lanes and a great connected transit system, Chicago still has awful traffic [[even in the off rush hours) and the El cars and Metra trains are still packed to the brim during the rush hours, which is expected I know.

To me, this really seems to support the premise that mega city metros are over populated, and that skyscrapers warp the urban fabric. The largest and tallest skyscrapers seem to be located near the main transit hubs, which has to contribute to that.

On the flip side of this, it might not be a bad idea to locate our major transit stops near the Penobscot and Renaissance Cent in Detroit.

[wolverine]

[[Tomorrow we visit the Miracle Mile).[/LEFT]

Magnificent Mile damnit!! That's my neighborhood and I hear people call it miracle mile all the time by accident lol.

Hope you enjoyed the city. The weather sunday wasn't too cooperative, but at least the sun was out Saturday. Come back and visit during the summer. It's really beautiful then. Right now there's a lot of construction on Michigan Ave because it's the dip in the shopping season. Former Borders is becoming TopShop and former Chicago Place mall is under renovation right now into a retail arcade.

[Brian1979]

The Clinton station on the Blue Line is 2-3 blocks from Union Station.

I always park in the lot between the Holiday Inn and the Clinton blue line station when I go to Chicago, best place to park in the city they charge $12 for 24 hours. The station is right under the Eisenhower Expressway. I know this is about trains but if anyone has to drive to Chicago that's the way to go.

[DetroitDad]

Magnificent Mile damnit!! That's my neighborhood and I hear people call it miracle mile all the time by accident lol.

Hope you enjoyed the city. The weather sunday wasn't too cooperative, but at least the sun was out Saturday. Come back and visit during the summer. It's really beautiful then. Right now there's a lot of construction on Michigan Ave because it's the dip in the shopping season. Former Borders is becoming TopShop and former Chicago Place mall is under renovation right now into a retail arcade.

Oh, right, sorry! The Miracle Mile would be retail on Lower Woodward...

I wrote a follow up report, but because I don't want to describe everything, I am waiting for Detroit Mom to get the pictures loaded. I'll post it here and on CMC before the weekend.