Michigan Services

Map of Amtrak routes in Michigan.

Amtrak Michigan Services[1]

Legend Distance Station 0 Chicago Illinois/Indiana border 16 mi (26 km) Hammond–Whiting 52 mi (84 km) Michigan City Indiana/Michigan border 62 mi (100 km) New Buffalo 89 mi (143 km) Niles 89 mi (143 km) St. Joseph – Benton Harbor 102 mi (164 km) Dowagiac 116 mi (187 km) Bangor 138 mi (222 km) Kalamazoo 151 mi (243 km) Holland 160 mi (260 km) Battle Creek 176 mi (283 km) Grand Rapids 184 mi (296 km) Albion 205 mi (330 km) Jackson 208 mi (335 km) East Lansing 238 mi (383 km) Durand 243 mi (391 km) Ann Arbor 256 mi (412 km) Flint Greenfield Village 273 mi (439 km) Dearborn 274 mi (441 km) Lapeer 281 mi (452 km) Detroit 292 mi (470 km) Royal Oak 296 mi (476 km) Birmingham 304 mi (489 km) Pontiac 319 mi (513 km) Port Huron

Michigan Services is an umbrella term used by Amtrak to describe passenger rail service by three routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with the Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Port Huron, and Detroit, and other stations along the three lines. The routes as a group are a component of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

The Michigan Services routes are:

• Blue Water (364/365): Chicago to Port Huron, Michigan
• Pere Marquette (370/371): Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Wolverine (350/351/352/353/354/355): Chicago to Pontiac, Michigan

The routes carried a total of 756,651 passengers during fiscal year 2009.^[1]

The Pere Marquette and Blue Water services receive funding from the State of Michigan; e.g., $7.1 million in fiscal year 2005–2006. Rising ridership and revenues bumped the FY 2006–2007 amount to $6.2 million.^[2]

History

When Amtrak was founded in 1971, five private companies provided inter-city passenger service in Michigan: the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O), the Grand Trunk Western, the Norfolk & Western, and Penn Central. Services provided:^[3]

Company	Route	Name	Notes
Baltimore & Ohio	Detroit—Cincinnati	Cincinnatian
Chesapeake & Ohio	Chicago—Grand Rapids	Pere Marquette
	Holland—Muskegon	Pere Marquette connection
	Grand Rapids—Detroit	Pere Marquette	Two round-trips daily
	Ashland—Detroit	George Washington connection	Weekend-only
Grand Trunk Western	Chicago—Port Huron	formerly the International Limited
	Chicago—Port Huron	Maple Leaf
	Chicago—Detroit	Mohawk
Norfolk & Western	St. Louis—Detroit	Wabash Cannonball
Penn Central	Chicago—Detroit—Buffalo	formerly the Motor City Special
	Chicago—Detroit—Buffalo	formerly the Wolverine
	Chicago—Detroit	formerly the Michigan and Twilight Limited

Upon taking over national passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, Amtrak discontinued almost all of these, keeping just two round-trips on the Penn Central's Chicago—Detroit line. Detroit lost its direct connections to St. Louis, Cincinnati, Buffalo and the Canadian province of Ontario.^[4] On its first new timetable, issued on November 14, 1971, Amtrak bestowed names on these trains: the Wolverine and the St. Clair.^[5] In mid-May Amtrak announced a Toledo, Ohio—Detroit connection to the new Chicago—New York Lake Shore with financial support from the state of Michigan; this train was canceled before it ran because of poor track conditions between the two cities.^[6]

Turboliners

A Turboliner at Porter, Indiana in 1977.

Beginning on April 10, 1975, Amtrak introduced French-built Turboliner equipment to the Michigan route. Amtrak added a third round-trip to the corridor on April 27. A pool of three Turboliner trainsets served the route, and the three round-trip pairs were numbered 350—355, which are still in use today. Amtrak dropped the individual train names and rebranded all three Turboliner, in common with similar services to St. Louis, Missouri and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The new equipment led to massive gains in ridership, topping 340,000 in 1975 and 370,000 in 1976.^[7]

The Turboliners became a victim of their own success. Although fast (and flashy), they were unable to reach their design speed of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) because of the poor quality of the Penn Central track in Michigan. Additionally, the fixed five-car consists had a maximum capacity of 292 passengers altogether, which was often not enough. Starting in March 1976 Amtrak began replacing some of the Turboliners with conventional equipment, including then-new Amfleet coaches. Individual names also returned to the corridor, with the heretofore unnamed third train becoming the Twilight Limited.^[8] The last Turboliners left the corridor in 1981.^[9]

Blue Water

A Via Rail EMD F40PH leads the International into East Lansing in 1996.

See also: Blue Water (train) and International Limited

Amtrak restored service to the Grand Trunk Western northeast of Battle Creek on September 15, 1974, with the inauguration of the Blue Water. This train originated at Port Huron and served Lapeer, Flint, Durand, and East Lansing before joining the Chicago—Detroit trains at Battle Creek and continuing to Chicago. The state of Michigan spent $1 million on track rehabilitation.^[10] Amtrak renamed the train the Blue Water Limited on October 26, 1975, and it used Turboliners 1976—1981.^[11]

Michigan, Amtrak and the Canadian province of Ontario had discussed restoring Port Huron—Toronto service since 1973; this finally occurred on October 31, 1982 with the extension of the Blue Water Limited, which was renamed the International Limited (later shortened to International). Amtrak and Via Rail, the state-supported Canadian rail company, jointly operated the International until April 25, 2004, when cross-border service was discontinued. Massive border delays post-September 11 led to falling ridership; Amtrak and Michigan agreed to truncate service at Port Huron and bring back the old Blue Water.^[12]

Pontiac and Toledo

The Michigan Central Station hosted Amtrak in Detroit 1971—1988; trains continued to serve the area 1994.

Main article: Lake Cities (Amtrak)

On August 3, 1980, Amtrak extended the St. Clair, the midday Chicago—Detroit train, to Toledo, Ohio. The train was renamed the Lake Cities and continued to use Turboliner trainsets until mid-1981.^[13][14] The Lake Cities schedule allowed both east- and westbound connections with the Chicago—New York Lake Shore Limited, eliminating the need for Michigan travelers to backtrack through Chicago. Budget cuts led Amtrak to discontinue service to Toledo on April 1, 1995.

Amtrak extended the Wolverine and Twilight Limited to Pontiac on May 5, 1994. With this change service began at a new station in Detroit's New Center. Although the Michigan Central Station (located in Corktown) had closed on January 6, 1988, trains continued to stop at a temporary platform just east of the old station. Besides Pontiac, new stations were opened at Royal Oak and Birmingham. The Lake Cities also began serving Pontiac after the end of Toledo service in 1995.^[15][16]

Pere Marquette

Main article: Pere Marquette (train)

Amtrak considered two routes for a Chicago—Grand Rapids train: the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (ex-Pere Marquette Railway), which ran along the Lake Michigan coastline and joined the main Chicago—Detroit line at Porter, Indiana, and a Conrail (ex-Pennsylvania Railroad) route via Kalamazoo. Although the Conrail route was faster, a dispute over costs led to the selection of the C&O route. Service began August 5, 1984, with stops at Grand Rapids, Holland, Bangor, St. Joseph, New Buffalo and Hammond-Whiting.^[17][18] Like the Blue Water, the Pere Marquette receives financial support from the state of Michigan.

Proposed improvements

High-speed rail

The Detroit-Chicago corridor has been designated by the Federal Railroad Administration as a high-speed rail corridor.^[19] A 97-mile (156 km) stretch along the route of Blue Water and Wolverine from Porter, Indiana to Kalamazoo, Michigan is the longest segment of track owned by Amtrak outside of the Northeast Corridor.^[19] Amtrak began speed increases along this stretch in January 2002. Currently, trains reach a speed of 95 mph (153 km/h) between Niles and Kalamazoo. Ultimately, speed increases to 110 mph (180 km/h) service are planned.^[19][20]

Expansion

The Michigan Department of Transportation has petitioned Amtrak to add a daily train between Chicago and Kalamazoo, departing Chicago in late evening and returning from Kalamazoo in the morning.^[21]

Track

The Wolverine passes through the campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo on the old Michigan Central main line, now owned by Amtrak. The Pere Marquette passing a farm south of Holland on the old Pere Marquette Railway, now CSX.

The tracks used were originally part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Grand Trunk Railway and Pere Marquette Railway systems, and are now owned by CSX, Norfolk Southern, the Canadian National Railway, Conrail and Amtrak. The following lines are used:

Blue Water

• Grand Trunk Western Railway (GT), Battle Creek, Michigan (on the Michigan Central Railroad east of Kalamazoo) to Port Huron, Michigan, now CN

Pere Marquette

• Pere Marquette Railway, Porter, Indiana to Grand Rapids, Michigan, now CSX

Wolverine

• Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (PRR), Chicago, Illinois to Whiting, Indiana, now NS
• Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (NYC), Whiting to Porter, Indiana, now NS
• Michigan Central Railroad (NYC), Porter to Detroit, Michigan, now Amtrak west of and NS east of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Conrail in Detroit
• Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway (GT), Detroit to Pontiac, Michigan, now CN

Airport connections

At the Chicago end of all three lines, riders may easily connect to either O'Hare International Airport or Midway International Airport, using nearby CTA stations. For O'Hare, riders should walk to the Clinton CTA station and ride the Blue line, which operates 24 hours a day. For Midway, riders should walk to the Quincy/Wells CTA station and ride the Orange line.

Travelers headed to Detroit Metro Airport should exit at the Dearborn station, take SMART bus route 200 west (outbound) and transfer to route 280 south at Middlebelt Road.

Travelers headed to Lansing Capital Region International Airport must take Capital Area Transportation Authority bus route 20 north to Grand River Avenue, the route 1 west to Grand Boulevard in Downtown Lansing, then route 14 north to the Airport.

Travelers bound for the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Kalamazoo should board Metro Transit Bus #12 (Bronson) for direct service to the airport. Amtrak, Metro Transit, Greyhound and Indian Trails are all based at the city's downtown Transportation Center.

Travelers headed to Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids need to take Rapid Bus 6 to Woodland Mall at the main terminal about half a mile from the train station. At Woodland they need to transfer to Bus 17 that will take them to the airport.

Notes

1. ^ Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2009, State of Michigan
2. ^ "MDOT renews Amtrak contract, notes record ridership on Michigan routes". Michigan Department of Transportation. November 16, 2006. http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620-156531--,00.html. Retrieved 2006-11-20. 
3. ^ Kelly, John (June 5, 2001). "Amtrak's beginnings". Classic Trains. http://www.trains.com/ctr/default.aspx?c=a&id=54. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
4. ^ Amtrak (May 1, 1971). "Nationwide Schedules of Intercity Passenger Service". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19710501&item=0024. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
5. ^ Amtrak (November 11, 1971). "Nationwide Schedules of Intercity Passenger Service". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19711114&item=0064. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
6. ^ "Detroit-Toledo Train Cancelled". Argus-Press. May 26, 1971. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G3wwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=i6sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=791,2692495&dq=amtrak+detroit&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-07-19. 
7. ^ Sanders (2006), 195-196.
8. ^ Sanders (2006), 195-196.
9. ^ Sanders (2006), 202.
10. ^ Sanders (2006), 203-204.
11. ^ Sanders (2006), 204; 208.
12. ^ Sanders (2006), 207.
13. ^ "Michigan–Toledo Runs Instituted By Amtrak". Toledo Blade. July 9, 1980. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cQ0VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=owIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6458,5031456&dq=amtrak+toledo&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-04-16. 
14. ^ Sanders (2006), 202.
15. ^ Sanders (2006), 199-200.
16. ^ Amtrak (May 1, 1994). "National Timetable Spring/Summer 1994". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19940501n&item=0021. Retrieved 2011-11-05. 
17. ^ Sanders (2006), 209.
18. ^ Amtrak (October 28, 1984). "National Train Timetables". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19841028&item=0040. Retrieved 2011-11-05. 
19. ^ ^{a b c} "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2005" (PDF). State of Michigan. http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/factsheets/MICHIGAN05.pdf. Retrieved 2006-10-30. 
20. ^ "Michigan: Amtrak taking service to new speeds". WNDU-TV. http://www.wndu.com/news/022002/news_12244.php. Retrieved 2006-11-01. ^{[dead link]}
21. ^ Russon, Gabrielle (April 30, 2010). "Michigan asks Amtrak for another Kalamazoo-to-Chicago train". Kalamazoo Gazette. http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/04/michigan_asks_amtrak_for_anoth.html. Retrieved 2010-05-01. 

References

• Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34705-X. 

External links

• Amtrak - Michigan Services
• Amtrak Michigan Services Website
• Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers