Possible New Life for Michigan Central Station? Ford Motor Co. a Buyer? YES!

**rex** · September-21-17, 12:14 AM

what high speed amtrak line to chicago are we talking about here? The same line i get on in Ann Arbor that probably goes 80mph tops, stops and sits idly in the middle of nowhere Indiana, inside of Chicago for an hour? I was under the impression Amtrak doesn't own the track and as such freight or whatever else takes precedence. Im baffled. Rail to and from the airport is a fantastic idea though. This has been on my mind for years. You know whats nice about flying into Chicago, Philadelphia, SF and so on? Being able to hop on mass transit that takes you downtown. Dont have to rent a car.

**casscorridor** · September-21-17, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by rex

what high speed amtrak line to chicagoTh are we talking about here? The same line i get on in Ann Arbor that probably goes 80mph tops, stops and sits idly in the middle of nowhere Indiana, inside of Chicago for an hour? I was under the impression Amtrak doesn't own the track and as such freight or whatever else takes precedence. Im baffled. Rail to and from the airport is a fantastic idea though. This has been on my mind for years. You know whats nice about flying into Chicago, Philadelphia, SF and so on? Being able to hop on mass transit that takes you downtown. Dont have to rent a car.

Unlike Germany [[Deutsche Bahn) and the United Kingdom [[Network Rail), the United States does not own its railways except for a few small sections. This means it has little power to make way for passenger services. It's completely up to the will of the private railway owners. This is the principal reason, more than geography, that the US has inferior rail service compared with other major economies and likely will never catch up unless the railways are nationalized, something akin to treason in the nation's political psyche.

**Atticus** · September-21-17, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by rex

what high speed amtrak line to chicago are we talking about here? The same line i get on in Ann Arbor that probably goes 80mph tops, stops and sits idly in the middle of nowhere Indiana, inside of Chicago for an hour? I was under the impression Amtrak doesn't own the track and as such freight or whatever else takes precedence. Im baffled. Rail to and from the airport is a fantastic idea though. This has been on my mind for years. You know whats nice about flying into Chicago, Philadelphia, SF and so on? Being able to hop on mass transit that takes you downtown. Dont have to rent a car.

A few points:
The typical non-high speed Amtrak trains run at up to 60mph without track improvements. High speed in the US is considered 110 mph speed, and requires special track improvements to get from 60mph to 110mph. This is still much slower obviously than the 200+ mph bullet trains in Japan, France, etc., but from a functional and fiscal standpoint, 110mph is actually a good speed to aim for.

Amtrak has owned for several years now the stretch of track from Portage Indiana to Kalamazoo, and passenger trains regularly operate at the 110 mph speed on that stretch. Now the 40 miles of track from Portage Indiana to Union Station in Chicago is owned by freight lines, the tracks are horribly congested, and this is the source of the majority of delays you are referring to. Until there is a dedicated passenger rail only segment connecting Portage Indiana to Union Station, the horrible delays will continue.

Finally, MDOT just bought the tracks from Kalamazoo to Dearborn a few years ago, and has been making upgrades to those tracks to get to the higher 110mph speeds. The construction work associates with those up has caused some recent delays, but those delays should mostly go away once the project is finished. Thus you will soon have a very quick ride from Portage Indiana to Dearborn, but still issues at the ends of the line, particularly around Chicago.

To provide some other clarification, the Oakland County stops do produce a good number of riders [[more than Detroits New Center Station actually). Plus a brand new station in Troy wa just built. Just remember these are Oakland County riders who are mostly all going to Chicago, and not commuting into Detroit. Thus any impact to them will have to be taken into account to reopen MCS to trains.

The other interesting tidbit is that there has been a push by some locally to reroute the Amtrak line that connects Chicago to NYC to go through Michigan. Currently this line stops in Toledo, and then travels across freight lines inNE Ohio and Northern Indiana to South Bend and eventually to Chicago. The thought is to somehow route it north from Toledo, and then use the "high speed" passenger line from Dearborn to Porter Indiana. While the mileage, would be longer, travel times would actually be better because the higher speeds and avoidance of the congested freight lines in Northern Indiana.

What has prevented this thus far is they haven't been able to find a rail line they can use through Monroe County to connect the line from Toledo to the Dearborn area. Also, all of the Monroe County lines are also heavily congested with freight traffic, so delays could be a problem. But if it ever happened, Michigan could also gain rail service to Cleveland, NYC, and Boston again.

**Junjie** · September-21-17, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by Atticus

... Finally, MDOT just bought the tracks from Kalamazoo to Dearborn a few years ago, and has been making upgrades to those tracks to get to the higher 110mph speeds. The construction work associates with those up has caused some recent delays, but those delays should mostly go away once the project is finished. Thus you will soon have a very quick ride from Portage Indiana to Dearborn, but still issues at the ends of the line, particularly around Chicago. ...

Any updates on that track work between Kalamazoo and Dearborn? I remember reading a lot of announcements about this but haven't seen any real progress reports. Also still hoping they increase service as discussed once the line upgrades have been made.

**Atticus** · September-21-17, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Junjie

Any updates on that track work between Kalamazoo and Dearborn? I remember reading a lot of announcements about this but haven't seen any real progress reports. Also still hoping they increase service as discussed once the line upgrades have been made.

The current phase of work is mostly complete. Although there is still much more work to do from what I have been told, should more funding ever become available. The same can also be said for the frequency increases... funding dependent.