From The Allegan County News:

The engineering and architecture firm that designed Fennville’s new streetscape now hopes to pitch the idea of a new downtown train station to Amtrak officials later this month.

Tony McGhee is the business development director for the firm Abonmarche and said the city could seek a variety of grants to fund what his firm has estimated at $350,000 in total project costs.

The preliminary design puts the project just south of M-89 on the west side of the tracks. It would convert the Downtown Development Authority’s building (formerly the Short Stop) at 220 Main St. into the station and public restrooms and lay in a sidewalk that crosses West Fennville Street to a 300-foot platform on the west side of the tracks. The state’s 23rd station would be part of Amtrak’s Pere Marquette line.

Even without grants, McGhee said the project could likely be funded through a low-interest loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture; a 40-year loan at 3.5 percent interest would run the city approximately $1,500 per month.

“We’re looking for funds now,” he said. “The MEDC is very interested in this project because of the whole Pure Michigan push. We’re going to see if there are any (community development) block grant funds. We also think it’s possible to get (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program) funds because (public transit like this) reduces emissions.”

He presented the idea to Allegan County commissioners Feb. 23, and they unanimously passed a resolution in support of it.

He told them the Michigan Department of Transportation has approved Fennville’s request to establish the station.

“Next is a profit-loss analysis, undertaken by Amtrak,” McGhee said. “We’re going to meet with Amtrak in a few weeks and we’re confident there will be no problem.

Need
McGhee said, “One of the main drivers of this is that this is a destination for a lot of people both on vacations and visiting second homes.”

He said 29.3 percent of all housing in the lakeshore area around Saugatuck and Douglas was non-homestead housing-with many from the Chicago area, where the Amtrak line originates. Providing those owners with easier access to the area means they would spend more time and more of their money there.

He said Allegan County was seventh statewide in the number of times visitors to the state’s Pure Michigan campaign website clicked through to local websites.

“Traverse City was number 1, but of the communities above Allegan County on the list, they spend more than $150,000 to advertise themselves,” McGhee said. “He said the county gets traffic organically, without even trying.

“That tells you that there’s a natural interest in this area.”

He estimated, based on Amtrak data, that 40,000 visitors annually disembarked at the Holland station.

“We’re assuming some portion of them are getting off there and going down (into the county),” McGhee said.

He said a Fennville station would provide easier access into and out of the area.

“It will be a nice jump-off spot for people to get off the train here and go to other places in town and on the lakeshore,” McGhee said.

Later, he pointed out that an arrangement with public transit could be arranged to provide access to the Saugatuck and Douglas area.

“It’s also a great way for our residents to be able to go places (outside the county) and see things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.”

He said there have been two train stations in Fennville in the past.

He said Amtrak has not as yet expressed any concerns regarding the close proximity a station in Fennville would have to the station in Bangor.

Next steps
McGhee said he expected to know whether or not Amtrak supported the project within approximately 60 days of their meeting this month.

The next step would be to obtain permission from freight-shipper and track owner CSX to build the station on its right of way.

“That’s the wild card in this,” McGhee said.

As Abonmarche has worked on other rail projects and with CSX in the past, he estimated the process of negotiating with the company at four to six months. Abonmarche redesigned a station in St. Joseph several years ago and helped research the feasibility for another in Benton Harbor.

“Once you’re past that, all the rest can go pretty quickly,” he said.

He estimated it would take six to eight months to finish out the rest of the details of the project and build the station.

Support
Allegan County Commissioner Terry Burns said the station was a great opportunity.
“I commend the DDA for their foresight,” he said. “And our transportation director Dan Wedge supports this.”
Commissioner Steve McNeal said “Tourism is our number two industry. Anything we can do to increase tourism is very welcome, especially since it doesn’t cost us any money.”

Source: http://www.allegannews.com/articles/2012/03/09/local_news/1.txt

From The Grand Rapids Press/Mlive.com:

Upgrades to Amtrak’s Pere Marquette line between Grand Rapids and Chicago could be in the works thanks to a collaborative effort to net millions in highly competitive federal funding.

Amtrak is working with the Michigan Department of Transportation to drum up local support for the project, starting with an application by the harbor town of New Buffalo near the Indiana border for a slice of nearly $500 million in federal TIGER grants.

This will be the fourth year the U.S. Department of Transportation awards the grants, which are highly competitive and go toward transportation and similar projects.

New Buffalo was taken off the Pere Marquette line in 2009, but assistant city manager Ryan Fellows said the city is applying for grants in the hopes of being linked to Amtrak’s planned 110-mph train route between Kalamazoo and Porter, Ind.

The TIGER grant would allow Amtrak to add New Buffalo back to the Pere Marquette line, which in turn would give cities along that route, including Grand Rapids and Holland, access to high-speed rail.

“It’d increase our level of service,” Fellows said, adding the proposals would have implications for travel to the east side of the state as well.

The possibility of putting New Buffalo back on the Pere Marquette line drew interest from the Grand Valley Metro Council in Grand Rapids, which last week passed a resolution supporting New Buffalo’s efforts.

Metro Council Executive Director John Weiss said the council was approached by MDOT’s new rail director, Timothy Hoeffner, to collaborate on the plans.

Part of the TIGER grant also would be used by Amtrak to “double track” its lines near Bangor, another city along the Pere Marquette line, Weiss said.

Doubling tracking would separate passenger and freight rail lines, which could lend itself to increased train frequency to and from Chicago to Grand Rapids, he said.

“It’s just an intergovernmental cooperation where this could benefit our riders and it could benefit passenger trains,” Weiss said.

“What we like about it too is it could increase passenger trains coming from the south,” he added. “It’s for tourists going up north. Anything we can do to make it easier for our residents to go to other places or have tourists come to us, that’d be great.”

Hoeffner said such plans likely are years off, adding Amtrak has been exploring ways to better its service in West and Southwest Michigan for some years.

MDOT recently released a long-term plan for rail operations in the state, and although this particular project is not spelled out in that report, Hoeffner said it goes along with where the department hopes to head in coming years.

“It provides more flexibility for Amtrak’s operations today and also provides additional capacity for increased frequencies in the future,” Hoeffner said. “So it really helps with reliability and also travel times.”

The TIGER grant application deadline is March 19, with the federal transportation department announcing recipients at a later date.

Despite the proposals being tentative, Fellows expressed optimism with their outcome.

“It is an exciting opportunity that we’re glad to be a part of,” he said. “This is not just a benefit to New Buffalo, but to the entire rail corridor, too.”

Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/03/grand_rapids_could_get_in_on_h.html