MQT3001 wrote:One thing that would REALLY help would be the rebirth of the Detroit Area. That area has lost much of its former passenger and economic strengh during the recession. Also, I wonder if a new GR-Cicago service could be made. for one, the Pere Marquette leaves too late to attract most business folks, and is fairly slow. I wonder if MDOT would create a train from GR-Chi via K-zoo on GDLK trackage, or, and additional train via CSX that would be a run-through, passing all the other stations (Holland, Bangor, ect)
One of the Chicago area projects I've heard of is around Porter Junction, and that would be adding sidings so NS trains could be readily be out of the way. I also wonder if adding a dedicated Amtrak track to the NS Chicago line from Porter West would help/can be made.
Part of the congestion improvement is a dedicated track for passenger trains, the Detroit area has been declining since the mid 1970's what you see now is the culmination of that decades long decline. It will come back but only after decades of steady improvement. Passenger traffic isn't declining it's growing...
Yes, it is sad they've been declining for decades. What I really meant was if Detroit took off--say going back above 1 million in population, that ridership would easily jump, perhaps as much as the doubling someone mentioned earlier. Thanks for clairifying the Chicago situation
MQT3001 wrote:Does the electric commuter lines (south shore I think) go/have acess/connections to Union Station in Chicago? Maybe its worth connecting the Wolverine and Blue water to that line to shave off time by cutting out the bottle neck of freight trains
The NICTD train (South Shore line) arrives at Millenium Station in Chicago not Union Station. They are both fairly convenient stations to downtown. You could make a connection between the two by walking a few blocks to the CTA blue line and riding to the Clinton station and then walking the 1/2 block to Union. But it would be a pain. The travel time on the NICTD is slower than Amtrak and it calls on many more stations. It is much more reliable to its timetable though than Amtrak IMHO.
I travel to Chicago weekly and I almost never drive there.
I was thinking that maybe they could divert Amtrak onto the south shore, then back to freight rails before Union Station. They would also blow through all stations on the SS
Millenium isn't that big of a station & I doubt they have the space really to support Amtrak trains. Currently the NICTD (Chicago South Shore & South Bend), and the three Metra Electric lines all serve that station.
