Unsure if sarcasm or not about MCS, but Ford intends to keep four tracks in place for Amtrak and I believe they are studying the idea. It would open up a potential first route for the SEMCOG guys too, when/if that happens.Man o' War wrote:You still have that somewhat cumbersome logistical issue of getting from the Detroit station to the tunnel trackage. Leaving the route to travel up to what would essentially be a stub ended stop, and then having to return to West Detroit would kill much time. If it ever were to come to fruition, perhaps the best alternative for Detroit riders would be to travel to Dearborn to board for Toronto. By the time studies are made, and money is found, and participating railroads are happy, most reading this thread will be quite a bit longer in tooth - if not passed into the next dimension. And oh yeah, maybe that new Ford Motor place over on Michigan Avenue could serve as a boarding place for Detroiters. Wouldn't that be a novel idea...NSSD70ACe wrote:I’ve seen all this talk about just bringing the International back. Here’s the problem(s):Steve B wrote:It might be easier to get permission from the various RRs for a Windsor routing rather than through Mt. Clemens. The vast majority of the Windsor route already has passenger trains on it, and minimal freight traffic from Windsor to London on VIA-CN. It seems unlikely CN would want to accommodate passenger trains on 51 miles in Michigan, plus the Sarnia tunnel, that don't have them now.
CP got an "A" this spring from Amtrak for passenger train handling. That would bode well for the Detroit tunnel and adjoining trackage. CN got a "D."
Statistically, the BTL-PTH corridor is not as popular as the BTL-DET corridor. The only two “big cities” you really hit are Lansing and Flint. On the Wolverine route, you get Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Detroit. AA alone beats out both Lansing and Flint in terms of ridership. Link is from 2017 but I doubt it’s changed much since then. https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/proj ... IGAN17.pdf
You’d have to traverse over CN’s primary route between Chicago and eastern Canada. We all know about the land barges and the delays to the Blue Water. Not only would you avoid the problematic CN for the A-rated CP, you also wouldn’t be paying trackage rights over the southern corridor because it’s Amtrak operated. Why pay more for a route with less ridership and more delays? Yes, the AML has bad OTP right now but I expect it to increase once the upgrades and equipment changeovers are completed.
Forget the old International routing.
Man o' War
Until then, I would make the assumption that Detroiters would travel to Dearborn.
Agreed on that, and I do think there is room for improvement on that route. MSU students like taking the train but it arrives during the start of classes to head west and gets back after CATA stops running headed east. During my time there, I heard many students saying they would take the train if they could, but the timing isn’t practical. That would definitely boost ridership, at least for Lansing.NS3322 wrote:While I agree with your thoughts, do not forget that both East Lansing and Flint only have 1 round trip per day. AA and the rest on the Wolverine route have 3 round trips per day.NSSD70ACe wrote:Statistically, the BTL-PTH corridor is not as popular as the BTL-DET corridor. The only two “big cities” you really hit are Lansing and Flint. On the Wolverine route, you get Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Detroit. AA alone beats out both Lansing and Flint in terms of ridership. Link is from 2017 but I doubt it’s changed much since then.
Beyond that, you also have to consider that most of the stops on that route are smaller towns, not metro areas. There would likely be more demand traveling to Toronto from AA or Detroit than most places on the BW route. It’s an essential service, but not one I would consider a good candidate for an international route at this time.