Detroit-Grand Rapids Rail Line

[dtowncitylover]

The Piedmont train in NC carries 466 passengers on an average weekday. Not exactly a compelling case for massive rail investment in MI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_[[train)

OMG the Wikipedia page I didn't think to look there or also the Amtrak website. Your micro-analyzing of numbers is neither here nor their considering both the number of passengers and the revenue has risen dramatically from 2009-2014.

[Bham1982]

OMG the Wikipedia page I didn't think to look there or also the Amtrak website. Your micro-analyzing of numbers is neither here nor their considering both the number of passengers and the revenue has risen dramatically from 2009-2014.

You were the one who brought up the Piedmont train as some shining model to aspire to.

It basically has a daily passenger load less than the number of people I pass on the street when getting coffee in the AM. Doesn't sound like there's some pressing need for a billion-dollar train to accomodate a few subway cars worth of people. I-96 will have more people in a minute than this choo choo gets all day.

[dtowncitylover]

You were the one who brought up the Piedmont train as some shining model to aspire to.

It basically has a daily passenger load less than the number of people I pass on the street when getting coffee in the AM. Doesn't sound like there's some pressing need for a billion-dollar train to accomodate a few subway cars worth of people. I-96 will have more people in a minute than this choo choo gets all day.

I didn't say we should aspire to it, I'm saying we should use it as the best comparable case study for intra-state passenger rail.

The car will always rule, there's no doubt about that, but I think this serves a good purpose to diversify transportation options within the state to travel. But more studies are indeed needed and this could be years out if at all.