From the Detroit Free Press:

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel? Not yet.

Though Michigan was awarded $403.2 million in federal dollars this year for improvements to its heavily traveled Wolverine line between Pontiac and Chicago, it could be a while before travelers get speedy, reliable Amtrak service.

Construction and ongoing delays are likely to start in May or June and continue for three or four years — with most major work done on the 135-mile section of track between Dearborn and Kalamazoo.

“There won’t be construction everywhere all at one time. It will be broken into manageable pieces,” said Timothy Hoeffner, administrator of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s office of rail. Still, the project to fix the tracks, cross ties, grades and crossings will cause more disruption on a line already known for its slowness.

By 2015-16, Amtrak expects to have new locomotives, new cars, smoother tracks, better signaling and — state officials hope — on-time service on the Wolverine. That’s great news for the roughly half-million people who ride it each year.

“Like any construction project, there will be some inconveniences,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. “We will work to make it worth it in the end.”

Slow, rickety trains are relics of yesterday

ABOARD AMTRAK, west of Ann Arbor — The train is so jerky, I have to hold onto the wall on the way to the café car. It’s a miracle the attendant can pour coffee without it splashing across the room. I look out the window and see that on a road parallel to the rails, a silver Honda Civic is driving faster than the train is moving.

Compared with trains in Europe, Amtrak service on the Wolverine route between Pontiac and Chicago is a relic.

That is both good and bad.

The trains themselves are big, clunky and old. The ride is slow and full of mystery stops. On the other hand, impersonal, fast trains in Europe do not have kindly conductors helping you down the stairs with their yellow stools or stopping by to remind you, “Now, the next stop is yours; don’t forget.”

But there is a limit to the appeal of old-fashioned train travel. No Wi-Fi. Run-down cars. Unreliable toilets. And woefully slow service.

This year, Michigan landed $403.2 million in federal funds to finally buy, repair and upgrade sections of the system and build several new stations with the hopes of faster, on-time service.

Upgrades come just in time. Ridership keeps rising on the Wolverine Line. In all, 503,290 passengers rode in the 2011 fiscal year that ended in September — a 4.9% rise over last year. And during the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, ridership on Michigan’s three train lines (Wolverine, Blue Water and Pere Marquette) hit 16,767 riders.

Where to now?

Although the aim is to have trains that can go 110 m.p.h., the realistic near-term goal on the Wolverine Line is to eliminate mystery stops because of traffic from freight trains and poor track conditions.

“It’s not how fast you go, it’s how little you go slow,” said Timothy Hoeffner, administrator of the Michigan Department of Transportation office of rail. “We need to take the mystery out of the trip. You need to know when you are going to leave and more importantly, you need to know when you are going to arrive.”

That would please current Amtrak customers, who’ve become used to arbitrary timetables.

“I would definitely take the train if it were faster, but it’s not a must, as I do plan to take the train into Chicago again even if the service doesn’t get any faster,” said Valerie Wilson of Battle Creek, 53, who often takes Amtrak to Chicago for business. “Getting on the train is much simpler than getting on a plane.”

Lauren Lawler 18, of Troy just started at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. So far, she has taken the train home twice. The prospect of even a slight improvement in Amtrak travel times appeals to her.

“That would be sweet,” she said. “But I love taking the train. It’s my favorite. Even if I could drive, I would choose the train.”

Patience, please

Before things get better, they may get worse. For three or four years, disruptions will occur on the line, especially on the 135-mile section of track between Dearborn and Kalamazoo. Michigan is buying the track from freight company Norfolk-Southern for $140 million. The purchase should close in April. After that, work begins.

“In some cases, the quickest way to get some of the work done is let the construction crews take over the railroad for days at a time,” said Marc Magliari, Amtrak spokesman. “I’m not sure if that is going to happen in Michigan. We’ll certainly ask for passenger patience.”

Even now, patience is a quality Amtrak passengers know well.

The day I ride west from Detroit on Amtrak 351, we arrive just 12 minutes late into Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo has one of the loveliest train stations in Michigan, with rich oak walls and a spacious waiting room. That is lucky, because I have to wait around.

The Amtrak 350 eastbound train headed back to Detroit does not pull in until 11:35 a.m., 35 minutes late coming from Chicago. At noon, it mysteriously stops for seven minutes near Battle Creek. Near Albion, it slows for no apparent reason to barely moving, crawling past fallow fields.

At 1:05 p.m., there’s a different type of delay. A westbound Amtrak train has arrived in the Jackson station, so we have to sit on the track and wait 20 minutes before we can pull in from the other direction. After that, the train chugs slowly east.

Finally at 2:57 p.m., it reaches Detroit, 55 minutes late.

And that’s without construction. What happens next year?

“We will work closely with Amtrak to minimize the disruption. With that said, you can’t always do the work outside the window when the trains are running. There could be a chance that schedules could be adjusted, or we may have to use alternative transportation,” Hoeffner said. “Some of the work is rebuilding the grade crossings, replacing some rails, replacing wooden cross ties, some of which are 20 years old. We will add stone ballast and smooth out the alignment.”

Reason to be happy

It really is a happy problem, this requirement to spend $403.2 million of federal money on rail in our state. It breaks down to $150 million allocated for the Dearborn-Kalamazoo track, $196.5 million to prepare the route for 110-m.p.h. service, $3.2 million for a corridor environmental study, $9.4 million for a west Detroit track project and $44.1 million for new stations.

Alone among all grant recipients, the City of Troy may refuse the money for a new station; its new mayor and some on City Council oppose the long-awaited project. In addition to the federal money, state and local governments have appropriated $47.9 million more to complete all the projects. Improvements to rails, ties, fiber-optic lines for train-control systems and the reconstruction of 180 highway-grade crossings, should help to cut 30 minutes of travel time off the route.

The goal is to cut the Detroit-Chicago travel time to four hours within a few years.

So patience. Patience. Just a little more patience.

“The end result will be more and better travel choices for people in Michigan,” Magliari said. “It is inherently a much more civilized mode of transportation.”

– Ellen Creager, Detroit Free Press Travel Writer

Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20111206/FEATURES07/112060385/Fast-trains-to-Chicago-coming-in-3-4-years

From The Detroit News:

After a decade of planning, a transit center tying together train, bus, taxi and future light rail service in Troy appeared to be near fruition this fall.

The facility is supposed to open by October 2013, but a shakeup at City Hall has put construction in doubt. Mayor Janice Daniels, elected last month on a tea party platform, and several City Council members want Troy to halt the project, forfeiting $8.4 million in federal funds and ownership of the 3-acre site.

The City Council approved an agreement with the Michigan Department of Transportation in September that requires the city to award a contract for architectural and engineering services by mid-December. The council is to vote on the contract Dec. 19.

“If we don’t move forward, the project won’t move forward,” said Councilwoman Maureen McGinnis. “The process that we went through to be selected for the grant was arduous. To get this far and essentially drop the ball would be a definite black eye.”

Daniels said the federal government is already trillions of dollars in the hole and she doesn’t want to accept its “debt money” to fund the project.

“Any of that money we use is money that our children or grandchildren are going to have to pay back,” she said. “I’m not interested in building anything that’s going to be a burden on the backs of our children.”

Daniels, a member of a Troy-based anti-tax group, vocally opposed a library tax approved by voters in August.

Troy Multi-Modal Transit Facility backers said it would keep the city competitive and retain and attract business and younger families. But opponents question whether the center is needed and express concern about the cost of running and maintaining it. They also fear the 24-hour facility could drive up crime.

Meeting is tonight

The City Council is urging residents, businesses and other stakeholders to weigh in on the proposal at tonight’s council meeting and when the panel votes in two weeks.

Dave Henderson, one of three council members elected last month, sees no need to rush it. “We should build it after a regional rail system is established,” he said. The transit center project is fully funded through a rail grant from federal stimulus funds.

Therese Cody, the programs operation manager for passenger rail with MDOT, said if Troy doesn’t accept the money, it will be reallocated to another rail project, potentially in another state.

“It’s going to be their decision,” said Cody, who has worked on the Troy project since 2000. “Along the route, some communities embrace the train and others want it just to pass through.”

Cody added that besides Troy, funding has come through for rail projects in Dearborn and Battle Creek, and others are under way in Jackson, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Pontiac opened a new transit center in August.

“There’s a lot happening in Michigan,” she said. “We’ve been talking a long time … but there wasn’t a lot of money to kick it over the top. Now we’re seeing it.”

Daniels said the city should pay for such a big project itself — even if it takes another decade. She said she’s planning to recommend that the city designate a savings account for the project and that a portion of the city’s reserve fund be added each year.

The city partnered with Birmingham on the transit project in 2000, when developer Grand Sakwa, under a consent judgment, donated the land to Troy with the condition it be used for the transit center. The property, behind the Midtown Square shopping plaza near Maple Road and Coolidge Highway, was to revert to Grand Sakwa if development deadlines were not met.

Birmingham left the project in April after talks to buy land next to the CN Railway tracks failed. Birmingham has a free-standing bus enclosure at the rail station, where three trains arrive and three trains depart daily.

The proposed Troy center is designed to be a regional transportation hub and would be built around Birmingham’s Amtrak line and station and provide a transfer point to SMART bus service, taxis and limousines.

The facility would include a bridge, elevators, four SMART bus slips and reconfiguration of 116 parking spaces behind the shopping plaza.

Worries about crime

Councilman Wade Fleming said he had “reluctantly” supported the transit center, but now he’s unsure. “I’m trying to evaluate the merit of it,” he said. Fleming said he worries the 24-hour center could lead to more crime. “It could be a place where people who don’t have another place to go hang out,” he said. “If that’s the case, it’s going to require more police.”

Troy City Engineer Steve Vandette said the city would have to pay about $30,000 annually for maintenance and utility costs. The site, he said, will be equipped with security cameras. Police patrol the busy shopping district now, and additional officers won’t likely be required if the center is built, he added.

Troy Chamber of Commerce President Michele Hodges said the transit center would keep the city competitive.

“Troy has always prided itself on being city of tomorrow today,” she said. “If we miss these opportunities to compete, that reputation begins to diminish and we can’t afford that.”

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111205/METRO02/112050340/New-mayor–council-members-try-to-halt-Troy-transit-facility#ixzz1fgA0U1kT

From the Detroit Free Press:

Mass transit proposals are gaining speed in metro Detroit, but Troy’s new mayor said she wants to stop a decade-long effort to build a transit center at the Troy-Birmingham border.

Mayor Janice Daniels, an activist in Michigan’s Tea Party, campaigned against spending $8.5 million in federal funds for the rail-passenger project.

At Monday’s Troy City Council meeting, several speakers echoed Daniels’ wish to let the federal funds expire. Others voiced support for approval by the Dec. 19 funding deadline.

Council members are expected to vote on the project at the Dec. 19 meeting.

“I’m having a problem seeing the business case for this center,” said Ron Wilson, a 30-year resident and CEO of Troy-based Hotel Investment Services.

“The City of Troy cannot afford this $8.5 million of free money. It’s never free,” Wilson said. The city would incur unplanned costs, he said.

“Any money that comes to Troy should stay in Troy,” countered Bruce Bloomingdale, 71, who said Troy for too long has been “a donor city to both the state and federal governments.”

Daniels, and two council members elected Nov. 8 on a slate with her, have said the project is wasteful government spending. They said they won’t support it, even knowing the funding likely would go to projects outside of Michigan if Troy rebuffs it.

City plans show the center would be west of Coolidge and south of Maple, by railroad tracks that run to Detroit, Ann Arbor and Chicago. It would have room for SMART buses and stops for taxis and limos.

“I oppose this on principle,” Daniels said Saturday. “How do you justify taking $8.5 million from a government that is trillions of dollars in debt?” The City of Birmingham backed out of the project in 2010, citing concerns about unknown potential costs — another reason for Troy to drop it as well, Daniels said.

Mass transit initiatives across the region include a light-rail project proposed for Woodward in Detroit and federal funds allocated this year for a high-speed rail line from Detroit to Chicago.

The Troy Chamber of Commerce is strongly behind the transit center, chamber President Michele Hodges said.

“Transit is a vital asset that we need to compete (and) to enhance property values,” Hodges told council members.

Source:  http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201111290300/NEWS05/111290436

From The Grand Rapids Press:

William Bussa had an easy choice: Hop on an Indian Trails motorcoach and get home in time for Thanksgiving, or stay in a virtually deserted Grand Valley State University campus and miss a family holiday gathering in Elk Rapids.

Bussa, 18, doesn’t have a car and couldn’t hitch a ride north, leading him to the bus trip.

“It’s a boring ride, but it gets me where I need to go,” Bussa said.

He is part of thinning crowds on the “Sleeping Bear” route between Grand Rapids and points north to Boyne Falls.

The state said recently that riders on that route declined almost 10 percent in the last fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, largely the result of the trip ending at Boyne Falls instead of continuing to St. Ignace. Those going further north and west into the Upper Peninsula must change buses as part of another Indian Trails route.

The Grand Rapids link is the only intercity bus route that had a drop in riders last year. The decline came as the four other routes experienced double-digit gains.

The Department of Transportation said ridership was up:

27 percent on the “Straits” service between East Lansing and St. Ignace

17.1 percent on the “Huron” route from Bay City to St. Ignace

20.6 percent on the “Superior” service between Hancock and Milwaukee

2.6 percent on the “Hiawatha” trip from St. Ignace and Ironwood

Fares on the government-subsidized rural routes accounted for 50 percent of operating expenses, the state said. About $1.8 million was collected in 2011 and the state has allocated that same amount for the 2012 fiscal year.

“It’s a very efficient form of travel,” said Janet Foran, a transportation department spokeswoman. “More importantly, the riders are telling us that this is their way to travel and that without the bus they wouldn’t be able to make the trip.

“It’s an important service for the state and its residents.”

For Kathryn Navejar, the lack of alternative transportation was her reason for buying a ticket to Kincheloe, along I-75 between St. Ignace and Sault Ste. Marie.

Navejar was moving from Grand Rapids to the Upper Peninsula city to live with her children. It was her first trip on the Sleeping Bear line, but she’s used buses for years.

“It’s the cheapest way, can’t afford a car,” she said.

Others, such as, Darlene Myers, could drive, but find the route a convenience.

“I leave the driving to them,” Myers said before boarding the bus this week.

Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/11/up_north_or_bust_state_bus_lin.html