DEARBORN, Mich. — In recent years, I’ve discovered that if you live in the Detroit area, the best way to go to Chicago is almost always by train. I drive to the relatively new Dearborn Amtrak Station, park for free, and hop on a train. Five hours later, I’m there.
No going through airport security, no waiting to get your baggage, no being unable to text message on the trip. No sitting in the car in terrible traffic jams leading into the city.
The round-trip cost is usually under $100. Yes, sometime the train is late. But sometimes, flights are delayed or canceled. Every survey shows that Michiganders would enthusiastically prefer more rail transportation options.
But what are the chances of getting them any time soon?
Last month, I went to a meeting at the Dearborn station of MARP, or Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers, a group of a couple hundred largely rail-savvy folks. They were there to meet a new rail analyst hired by MDOT, or Michigan Department of Transportation, which is in charge of rail transport in the state.
Alas, the pleasant young woman seemed very new in her job, and spoke the language of bureaucratese.
The new rail analyst was there to discuss, according to MARP officials, something called “the Corridor Identification and Improvement Program established by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”
Later, when I talked to a couple more senior MDOT rail officials, including Nikkie Johnson, who manages passenger and freight rail development, I learned that this was all about possibly adding more trains to Michigan’s three existing passenger lines.
Passenger rail service in the United States has all been run by Amtrak for many years. Currently, the Pere Marquette runs to and from Grand Rapids and Chicago; the Blue Water to and from Port Huron and Chicago, and the most used line, the Wolverine, which goes from Pontiac to Chicago. Dearborn is one of several stations on that line, including Jackson, Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo.
MDOT’s goal, I was told by Ms. Johnson, was to eventually double the number of trains on each route every day, taking the Wolverine from three to six trips and other two lines to two trains each a day.
You might think that could be done soon.
But it was explained to me that this would take years; require multiple studies, including environmental impact assessments, as well as getting permission to make heavier use of the tracks involved, much of which is owned by freight railroad companies.
When I said that it sounded like it might take 10 years to accomplish that, the MDOT officials didn’t say I was wrong.
Long ago, of course, passenger rail transportation was a far bigger deal in Michigan. A century ago, the state had nearly three times the 3,600 miles of track it does today.
During summer, there were sometimes six trains a day to Petoskey, Traverse City, and other northern Michigan cities. Now, there are none. Every summer, hundreds of thousands of Michiganders head up north where many have cottages or cabins, and many would jump at the chance to take a train.
Three years ago, there were signs this might be a real possibility. Federal and state authorities awarded $2.3 million to nonprofit groups to study the feasibility of extending train service north.
But that dream seems to have faded, and the Trump Administration doesn’t seem very sympathetic to mass transit of any form, including passenger rail.
Last month, Stephen Gardner, the highly regarded CEO of Amtrak, was forced to resign. Top Trump adviser Elon Musk has said the rail service should be privatized.
Marc Magliari, Amtrak’s longtime Chicago-based senior public relations manager, indicated that while Amtrak was making strides in modernizing its cars, seats, and other components, any passenger rail expansion plans might be hampered by a shortage of rolling stock of all kinds, including passenger and dining cars.
That’s a problem that even in the best of scenarios, could hardly be overcome quickly. All this may be more of a long-term problem than generally recognized. The Chicago-based national nonprofit High Speed Rail Alliance has posted on its website “To Grow Its Population, Michigan Needs Fast, Frequent and Affordable Trains.”
But when I mentioned “high speed rail,” to a member of MARP, the railroad passenger association, she corrected me. High speed rail is generally understood to mean the 220-mph bullet trains common in Europe and Japan. That’s far more than Michigan track can bear.
“Since top speeds on the Wolverine Line are only 110 miles per hour, MDOT prefers the term “enhanced rail,” Communications Coordinator Kay Chase told me. Somehow, perhaps because Michigan is the state that once put the world on wheels, I found that very sad.
Jack Lessenberry is a former national editor for The Blade. Contact him at omblade@aol.com.
First Published April 3, 2025, 4:00 a.m.
